Living Under Prohibition

So I got back from commercial street last night with an email from Sid that contained a link to a news article and the question “I think we might have to rethink our weekend plans…what do you think?” Long story short, there’s an ancient Muslim-Hindu debate that is very similar to that of the Dome of the Rock situation in Israel.

As a precautionary measure, the government of Karnataka took drastic measures and placed a ban and prohibition upon the city of Bangalore from 6am Friday through 6pm Sunday. What does this ban entail? No gatherings larger than 5 people. No processions. No singing songs in public. There is a prohibition on the serving of alcohol. Therefore, our weekend plans needed to change: When we go out, we are at least 18 – an obvious procession. We love to sing (especially Celine Dion). And the weekend plans included the consumption of alcohol. And even though we were pretty sure that some restaurants would still be serving booze, as an international education professional I really couldn’t justify giving the students the opportunity to engage in illegal activity – what if the police raided the restaurant? Bad news bears. So we were uber flexible and made a bunch of changes, and the poor kids sat through more meetings and signed up for more events. Finally, we decided to have a house party at Sid’s house and the next night to go to a fancy restaurant…and then Sid and I made a “liquor run” during which we bought more alcohol than either of us will probably consume in our life (which isn’t that much) before the prohibition went into effect the next morning. Add that to my resume J

So after an afternoon full of all that shifting and replanning and flexibility, I got a call from Sid as I was heading to English class that evening. “You’re never going to believe this” he said. What’s the big news? The court decision had been delayed until next Wednesday, therefore the ban was lifted. Alcohol is being served, you can go out in groups larger than five, and if you sing a song in public you won’t be arrested. Awesome. It's very interesting what rights the government has here...and what rights it can restrict in just a moment's notice