As I was going through Lakdi-ka-pul in Hyderabad recently, I noticed something amiss. This particular stretch of road had been lodged in my memory because of a photograph I had taken two years ago (below). It held a curious Gandhian irony of a liquor outlet surrounded by khadi shops - Gandhi's vice & virtue in juxtaposition.
The one other place where these these two entities come into such close proximity is the fourth section of the Indian constitution's containing the 'Directive Principles of State Policy'. Article 43 of this section states that - "..the State shall endeavour to promote cottage industries..." which is closely followed by Article 47 which states that - "the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition... of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health...".
Both these articles were included as Gandhian directives of instructions to the state. But while both are non-justiciable, it is apparent from popular fashion and excise revenue collections as to which entity is getting "prohibited" and which "promoted". The paradox comes a full circle when one realizes that the state assembly - an institution that is filled by patrons of both these establishments, is a stone's throw away.
My recent visit to the place though led to some mixed feelings. The facade of the building that housed the liquor and khadi shops had been demolished in a road widening exercise. What remained was the sliced-open carcass of the building. The floor above the shops used to be occupied by a shady hotel whose bathrooms where now open to public viewing from the street - they now quite literally were 'public toilets'. And one of the shops that sold the high-minded khadi cloth - the symbolic vestige of freedom movement, now had a hawker peddling the humble handkerchief. While the liquor shop itself was now an empty shell. The noble and the despicable had in the end met a similar fate - nostalgia and pleasure it seems are no match for the juggernaut of progress. On this road at least, morality gave way to the pragmatic.
The one other place where these these two entities come into such close proximity is the fourth section of the Indian constitution's containing the 'Directive Principles of State Policy'. Article 43 of this section states that - "..the State shall endeavour to promote cottage industries..." which is closely followed by Article 47 which states that - "the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition... of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health...".
Both these articles were included as Gandhian directives of instructions to the state. But while both are non-justiciable, it is apparent from popular fashion and excise revenue collections as to which entity is getting "prohibited" and which "promoted". The paradox comes a full circle when one realizes that the state assembly - an institution that is filled by patrons of both these establishments, is a stone's throw away.
My recent visit to the place though led to some mixed feelings. The facade of the building that housed the liquor and khadi shops had been demolished in a road widening exercise. What remained was the sliced-open carcass of the building. The floor above the shops used to be occupied by a shady hotel whose bathrooms where now open to public viewing from the street - they now quite literally were 'public toilets'. And one of the shops that sold the high-minded khadi cloth - the symbolic vestige of freedom movement, now had a hawker peddling the humble handkerchief. While the liquor shop itself was now an empty shell. The noble and the despicable had in the end met a similar fate - nostalgia and pleasure it seems are no match for the juggernaut of progress. On this road at least, morality gave way to the pragmatic.
