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- By Parinda News Bureau, January 05, 2007, 13:30 IST
Women in Surat take a break from the kitchen and raise a toast to their "health"! In no other district in Gujarat do as many women walk up to a licensed liquor shop, flash their health permit and order beer and wine, as they do in Surat.
The Times of India reports that, not only does Surat have the highest number of women beer guzzlers in the state, it also leads in the number of women permit-holders, according to figures obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) from the excise and prohibition department.
The figures reveal that in 2005-06 Surti women with permits consumed 8,208 bottles of beers and 2,736 bottles of wine. In stark contrast, not a single woman bought liquor of any form in Ahmedabad. Some women did buy beer and wine in Gandhinagar, Vadodara and Rajkot, but their numbers added up would not match the number of women tipplers of Surat!
"Drinking liquor is not a taboo for women belonging to traditional societies of Surat like the Modhwanis, Kohlis and Golas. Women permit-holders generally belong to affluent business class in the city, NRIs who come every year and cosmopolitan families of petrochemical townships in Hazira and surrounding areas," says sociologist Satyakam Joshi.
Excise officials at the liquor outlet in Gateway Taj Hotel in Surat say that NRI women who come on temporary resident permits, Gujarat tourist permits and India tourist permits are the largest consumers of beer and wine.
Interestingly, women across the state buy only beer and wine. "We see around 40 women permit-holders in a month at this outlet. Some of the regular visitors come for 20 beer bottles every 10 days," says a senior excise official.
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