Alcoholism in Tamil Nadu

and its effects on Indian family lives

Case Studies on Indian families in Veerapandi Panjayath, Coimbatore District

Coming to India we both have never expected alcoholism to be such a big topic in India because it is still a taboo. Within the last months in Tamil Nadu we have heard a lot of stories about alcoholism and how it affects so many family lives in India. We heard stories about women who are beaten up by their husbands or who committed suicide escaping from their problems; stories about men spending the money of their wives who are often the bread winners of their family as their husband has become a slave to alcohol.

In the following we give an overview about the influence which alcohol has on the Indian society and family lives.

Alcohol in India

In general the common opinion in India about taking alcohol is that it is evil to do so. There is no acceptance of drinking alcohol in a social manner or as stimulant – so you cannot find openness towards the consumption of alcohol in any form. In the common opinion taking alcohol in any amount is proscribed, especially in some form of religions and for women. Anyhow making a taboo out of drinking alcohol does not solve the problem at all. It rather makes it more tempting. In addition to that most of all the alcohol regulation policies formed by each state are unsuccessful and since it is a taboo topic there is not enough information provided. Due to the fact that alcohol selling in many states is controlled by the government there are many adulteration of alcohol and a black market occurred.

Furthermore alcohol consumption is also a big problem in rural areas. Most of the rural population work in the sector of manual labour. They suffer from the hard work and by drinking alcohol after work they try to suppress the pain to be able to go to work the next day. That is a very common way of getting into the vicious circle.

Alcohol policy in Tamil Nadu

Alcohol in Tamil Nadu is sold only by “TASMAC” (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation), a company hold by the government of Tamil Nadu. Within the last

years all private shops which sold alcohol were shut down. With 50 % of the total amount the taxes on alcohol in Tamil Nadu are very high. The government can finally record most of the taxes revenue as a profit since it has the monopoly on selling. In total nearly half of the annual tax receipts are taken by the revenue from alcohol. Anyhow all of this has led to corruption in retail outlets and many complaints.

The place for TASMAC bars has to follow specific guidelines and norms as for example prescribed distance to school, places of worship etc. Anyhow many of the TASMAC bars don’t meet those standards. In Coimbatore many people feel disturbed by the drunker near to their house as well as it is a danger for people to start drinking alcohol at all. Without the availability of alcohol people would not have the chance to get in anyhow. Within the last year many people petitioned for a shifting or a

closing of those shops. And they have been successful: In 2012 14 TASMAC outlets in Coimbatore District were shifted.

Anyhow in many places TASMAC outlets still allow the alcoholics to have easy access to all kinds of liquids. Getting all the tax revenues the Tamil Nadu government is not willing to arrange those necessary shifting.

“The advantages of alcohol in Tamil Nadu”; Caricature 12.4.2011 by David Apatoff 1

1 http://sreeram-doodleoftheday.blogspot.in/2011_04_01_archive.html

Case Studies

For our case studies we interviewed mostly women in two of Good Shepherd Health and Education Centre & Dispensary (NGO) project villages: Kunjampalayam and Arivoli Nagar. Both villages belong to Veerapandi Panchayath in Coimbatore District. We heard shocking stories but we met incredible strong women who manage their life and keep their family together. In many cases it was the first time for the women to talk about this topic openly and to describe their feelings.

Rita

Rita, 28 years old, lives together with her husband Sanmugham (32) in Kunjampalayam.

Rita studied up to 3rd standard and finally got married with only 13 years. It was a love marriage. No dowry had to be paid.

After the marriage she and her husband moved to Arivoli Nagar, a village next to Kunjampalayam. Living together with the husband’s family they had a typical “Indian life”. They got four children whereas Rita got the first child at the age of only 15.

After getting their second child Sanmugham started to change his behaviour. He began to drink alcohol. Rita cannot remember when exactly her husband became an addicted alcoholic nor can she explain why he did so. She thinks that he might adopt that habit from their neighbours. While the husband’s family did not accept his son drinking alcohol, Rita and Sanmugham had to move out and they finally settled in Kunjampalayam. Sannmugham wanted to open a little cycle shop there and Rita helped him with money. The shop only ran for three years as more and more money was spent for alcohol.

Rita works for six families in Coimbatore as a housecleaner. For the last nine years she has working 10 hours daily with an income of 6000 Rupees per month. The families she works for support her and give her money in advance. Sanmugham does not know where this money comes from. He accuses Rita of having another man who pays her. Daily he is asking for the man’s name but as there is no man Rita is cheating him with he gets angry. Unable to control his emotions because of his alcohol consumption he beats her.

But why does she stay with her husband?

Rita’s father left his family when Rita was a young child and married another woman. She doesn’t have any memories about her father. But when she got her second child her father out of a sudden came to hospital to see her. Anyhow they did not talk and he left again. That was the only day in her life when she saw her father.

She cries, unable to find words to describe the pain she feels.

Her mother died 12 years ago. Rita has three older sisters and one older brother but they are barely in contact with each other. The family of her husband stopped the contact when her son became a drunker. All of this lets Rita alone with her problems and the fighting for her children.

Rita stays with her children. She does not want them to grow up without a father like she had to do. In her opinion that is even worse than living together with a father who drinks - all the time. Who sometimes beats, who does not show any interest in his family, who does not care, who somehow you cannot call a father anymore.

Her youngest son Brama, only 4 years old, is sitting on her lap. He says that he is not afraid of his father. This young, small and incredible boy even questions his father’s behaviour.

“Why do you drink so much? Why do you beat my mother? Why do you not care?” Unable to give him an answer he finally stopped drinking alcohol inside their house.

Rita is full of anger towards her husband and does not have mercy on him. But she stays, even if she is afraid of him and his violence.

Rita has joined a SHG group and she starts to save money. Her children go to tuition class every day.

Rita cannot imagine Sanmugham changing one day. But she has the hope and the aim to educate her children. She wants them to live an independent and better life. Without her children Rita would not have any reason to live, no reason to endure all of it anymore or to fight and to be strong. She prays to God every day to help her.

Joithoon

“Why should I cry? Crying won’t make it any better. I have the capacity to work and I am strong.”

Jaithoon, 38, seems confident and happy when she is telling us the story about her life and her family. She lives together with her husband Akbou, 40, in Arivoli Nagar. Both are Muslims and have two sons and one daughter.

Jaithoon doesn’t know anything about her father since he left the family for another woman. Her mother committed suicide when she was only 10 years old and Jaithoon moved to her grandmother afterwards. Living in the area next to the railway in Coimbatore she got to know Akbou. Three years later, she entered into a love marriage with him. Back then she was very happy especially about the new and big family she got after marrying her husband.

The government then provided land in Arivoli Nagar for people living next to the railway. When they got their first son, Jaithoon

and Akbou were also forced to move there.

Three years after their marriage Jaithoon for the first time became aware of her husband taking alcohol with some friends. And year to year it became more. He always has drunken out of their house, but he still drinks every day and spends minimum 200 Rupees per day for alcohol. Otherwise he will have bad abstinence symptoms. Jaithoon shows us the empty bottles which have been accumulated in the kitchen.

She tells us that Akbou does wood work but she does not know how much he actually earns. Her husband provides 100 Rupees per day for his family; the rest he spends for his own expenses. Jaithoon is a good cook and she sometimes cooks for some function and earns additional money. Being drunk Akbou beats his wife and accuses her to be unfaithful and spread this rumour throughout the village.

Jaithoon does not have the hope that her husband will change some day and she feels the pressure of his behaviour every day and gets angry. She sometimes also beats her husband, dislodges him out of the house and locks the door. She does not accept his insults. Once she moved to her mother in law for three month. In these three months her husband stopped drinking but when she came back he started again.

Akbou does not care about his youngest daughter and is physically abusive towards her. Jaithoon tells us that it is not the physical but the verbal violence which matters most to her daughter and makes her get desperate. She wants to leave her family because she cannot stand her father’s behaviour anymore. On the other hand she does not want to leave her mother alone. But one day, Jaithoon is sure, she will leave her husband together with her daughter. Whenever she will have the possibility to do so and get a job.

And again. She smiles.

Murugan

Murugan, a 50 year old man living in Arivoli Nagar, opens the door. We only know that he used to be an alcoholic and we expect a man opening the door whose appearance changed by his addiction, who is ill and old.

But Murugan is different. This man looks healthy, is smiling and apparently happy.

Murugan is natively from Tirupur and studied up to 5th standard. With twelve years his family sent him to work because they did not have enough money to effort clothes. Murugan started to support his family financially by doing iron work which he is still doing today.

For the first time Murugan started to drink alcohol together with his friends when he was 19 years old. Two years later he married Shantha Kungari, now 47, his cousin. She did not know that her husband was a drunker and expected all the best for their life.

About three times a week Murugan drank outside the house after work. Sometimes he returned to his home in such a drunken condition that his wife locked the door and Murugan spent the night on the streets. They fought a lot but he never acted violently against his family. For more than twenty years his elder son knew about his father’s addiction but he had always the hope and conviction that someday his father would stop drinking alcohol.

And this actually happened.

Eight years back Murugan coincidently watched Yoga in the TV. He was fascinated by what he saw and for the following months he watched it every morning. Sometimes he even tried to do it in front of the TV.

Then he decided to participate in a Yoga Camp in Coimbatore. For two weeks he left his house and learned many Yoga techniques from a master. Since that he is able to control his body and has never touched alcohol again. Some of his friends congratulated him; others urged him to take alcohol again. But Murugan kept strong. He cannot stand the smell of alcohol anymore and when he sees other alcoholics he sometimes gets angry. “Everyone should do Yoga then you will be able to have a happy life.” Two times a day he goes for walking and practices Yoga at least for one and half hours. He also reads a lot of spiritual books and has become a vegetarian. “Through Yoga I am able to understand myself and I found my soul.” Murugan feels strong and does not have any pain at all which he used to have a lot while being an alcoholic.

His family is very happy about his change and also his elder son started practicing Yoga. Some of his son’s friends even come to his house asking for some teaching and advice for doing Yoga.

Murugan demonstrates that it is never too late to fight against ones addiction and that there are people who really have the aim to change their lives.

Sumathi

When Sumathi got married to her cousin Arumugan she did not understand why he sometimes behaves so rudely. She was only sixteen years old and she did not know that her husband drank regularly alcohol. She only knew that she was afraid of him and that they fought a lot.

Now sixteen years later Sumathi and Arumugan live together with their three daughters in Arivoli Nagar. With the aid of an Income Generation Programm (IGP) from GSHEC they started an own business in selling clothes. Whereas Sumathi stays at home her husband goes daily for work.

Arumugan never returns from work without a newly bought bottle of alcohol. Every day he spent about 100 Rupees for his consumption. Among with his friends he drinks alcohol outside the house. Sometimes he returns back in drunken condition and starts shouting and beating Sumathi blaming her for irrational faults.

Her daughters do not accept their father beating their mother and when Sumathi does not know to whom to talk she calls her sister. Her daughters and Sumathi’s sister give her the moral support that she needs.

But even if Sumathi’s husband sometimes acts unfairly towards her she soon forgets about his behaviour because she knows that although he drinks alcohol he tries his best to take care of their children.

Several times he tried to get rid of the alcohol. He wants to change his life but he is still too weak to overcome it and the cost for treatment is too high.

Sometimes Sumathi feels angry about her husband but she still trusts him.

Sumathi together with her youngest daughter

Bhagya Lakshmi

Bhagya Lakshmi and her family live in a small house in Arivoli Nagar. Because Bhagya Lakshmi’s parents died when she was a little child she grew up at her grandparent’s house. Since her grandparents did not support her education she never visited a school.

At the age of twenty her grandfather arranged the marriage with Sundarapandi. At this time Bhagya Lakshmi and even her grandfather already knew that Sundarapandi is an alcoholic. She was not allowed to contradict against the marriage because her grandfather wanted her to settle as soon as possible since he was not able to host her anymore.

After the marriage Bhagya Lakshmi and her husband got three children. Currently, she is six months pregnant and stays at home. Her husband works as a “coolie” in the construction work sector.

We visit Bhagya Lakshmi’s house and soon notice Whiskey bottles lying in the corner of the living room. She tells us that her husband started drinking at the age of only five years and that even his father was an alcoholic.

With an income of only 200 INR per day he daily buys alcohol at the TASMAC bar. Every day after work he returns with a new bottle to his home and sends his children out while he drinks.

Bhagya Lakshmi never thought about leaving her husband. But so did he. When her last child was born Sundarapandi left Lakshmi for another woman and took their children with him without saying a word to her. Bhagya Lakshmi was afraid about her children and went to look for them. She had no money, no food. She starved for three months in search for her children.

Sundarapandi returned to her but not because he felt guilty. Their youngest child became sick and he did not know what to do except to return to his wife.

This happened three years back. Bhagya Lakshmi still lives together with her husband. She had no other choice than forgiving him. How could she think differently? A woman without her husband? In India?

No. She never thought about leaving him. She would not be accepted in society anymore. She would be too afraid of the questions.

Conclusion

After finishing our case studies we now can imagine how hard life can be for an Indian woman. They all gained our respect because they showed us how much women have to suffer, how much they have to manage and how much strength they have to show because of their husband‘s alcoholic addiction. We as German volunteers often wondered why these women do not leave their husbands and start a new life. But in India this is not as „easy” as in our Western society. The Indian society has got another way of thinking and another mentality. In India a woman belongs to her husband even if he his failing as the family‘s breadwinner. Divorcing in India exists but it is socially not accepted and this would mean for a woman to be abandoned by the society and to be left destitute. The women we talked to have no other choice than staying with their alcoholic husbands. They try to get the best out of their situation. They try to keep up their family live. They try to be strong and to be a good mother for their children. And they demonstrate us that they do a great job.

Source Materials Photos Front Page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu

http://www.chennailivenews.com/news/newsitem.aspx?id=20102017112020&subcatid=chennai

http://www.ethnicfoodproject.com/blog/2010/04/india-delhi-dhaba/india-delhi-dhaba-beer/

http://kristian-bertel-photo.blogspot.in/

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/article1299992.ece

reportet by : Ana Smarada Stephan und Theresa Mnerz (weltwärts KKs 2012/13)