Daily Times

Back in the 80s’, a bunch of us would gather in the commercial avenue of our locality to spend a few hours of evening together. We were all university students who claimed ourselves bohemian and were ‘men without women.’ We cherished hope of democracy to prevail in the days to come, we, who grew in the worst dictatorial era of Zia-ul-Haq. When political workers were flogged in public and our friend Nasir Zaidi, lean but courageous journalist was the first journalist of the world to be punished with 5 lashes for writing the truth about the draconian rule of the Islamist dictator. Borrowing from Zlata’s Diary: it was a life of waiting, of fears, a life where you wanted the circle to open and the sun of democracy to shine down us. When dejected, one of our friends would play, ‘by the river of Babylon’ with great dexterity. Sometimes getting stoned was the only opportunity to be away in the world of serene and cool shades of imagination. As the followers of Bacchus were flogged and had to go through the rigorous imprisonment. No change yet.

Bacchus enjoyed a great reputation in every great civilization of the past. People in his sweet and charming companionship are away from the drudgery of life for a while. In the 1932 supplement of Popular Science an article with the caption ‘Stone Age had Booze’ reported that “the stone age people washed their dinner down with a mug of beer or ale and later wine.” The mystery remains of long lasted friendship of humans with Bacchus and Lady Nicotine. Great Ghalib says, ‘Yuk gonabekhudimujhay din rat chahye’ ( I need the moment of forgetfulness all the time). And Hafiz Shirazi “O beautiful wine-bearer, bring forth the cup and put it to my lips.”

In Pakistan Bacchus had his celebrated days and almost every big city had his temple, where, people would throng in the evenings to sing and laugh away the cares of the day. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who himself had a zealous devout for Bacchus, declared him persona non grata in the twilight of his premiership to concede to the demands of the pot bellies mullahs; the followers of Perseus (the god of destruction).Perseus wanted Bacchus ousted from the realm. Once beloved now alien to the land. A great fall. He left with a curse, “thou wilt never have merry playing in the streets of your country.”

Perseus wanted Bacchus ousted from the realm. Once beloved now alien to the land. A great fall. He left with a curse, “thou wilt never have merry playing in the streets of your country”

We in our university days were eager to be his followers. After the ban the culture of bootlegging flourished, unfortunately we were not intimated to one. One of our friends had some connections with the family where the worship of Bacchus was performed secretly. We beseeched him to acquaint us with the god of happiness. He agreed and promised to come back in half an hour. We waited for him but he did not turn up even after the lapse of 3 hours. The bluffer, all agreed and started leaving for our homes. In the meanwhile, a person came, confused, to break the news that our friend was arrested along with Bacchus. A thunder bolt. All got panic. What to do now? Our flute player knew a person who was well connected to the police station of our locality. We approached him and he agreed to help us with the ‘reward’ of Rs. 2000. The pool turned out to be of 1500 and we promised to pay him the rest of the money the next day. None of us had a previous experience of going inside the police station. When we entered the gate, we found 3 or 4 people in the lock up, our friend was one of them. It was a summer night all stuffy and no fan was running in the lock up. A very fat person ,just putting on the trouser of his uniform, was sitting in the courtyard. He was the station house master. Lo! He was drunk and could hardly speak. “Why have you come here?” he growled. When briefed he growled again. “So, you want me to release the bastard sharabi(boozer)” We were all stunned. Brief. We got our friend out of the lock up.

Almost every big fish and the officers have good relations with Bacchus here. I have seen temples of Bacchus in the houses. The sight of Bacchus is enough to turn all the big fish crazy but nobody would admit it in public. Once I happened to be in the FM radio station in my city. The owner was drinking like a fish but after azan he stood up with his staggering legs to say his prayers. When he got free from his rituals, I inquired of him the reason for his “Munafqt” (Hypocrisy) “I have a daughter to marry.” And once the CJ Pakistan had taken a Suo moto notice to register a case against the TV actress, found with 2 bottles of whiskey at the airport.

The writer is Language Instructor at Taif University, KSA