Page 57 - Seniors Today - July 2021 Issue

because of the general darkness in the city. Another interesting bar that I would visit
We had to cover our vehice headlights with was in a blind alley that you encountered
brown paper and generally Bombay became on the right a few metres away from Astoria
the dark city to avoid enemy invasion. Hotel at Churchgate. This was almost an
The atmosphere in the Aunty’s bar open-air shed without proper seating. So
behind the Taj was both democratic and most of the customers were standing and
eclectic. Democratic because you could drinking. We would do our jam sessions at
well be having a conversation with the the then Talk of the Town, now Pizza by the
local taxi driver and eclectic because you Bay (whatever that means). One of my most
could discuss almost any subject under the memorable visits to this bar was during the
sun. The Aunty herself was quite a rather India-Pakistan war. That particular night
forbidding creature. She looked tough and we were there, there were ack-ack guns
no-nonsense. She could perform the role of firing into the sky and the shells exploding
a bouncer when required, and was adept at in little pieces of light over the Bombay
bribing the police who made their way to her skies. As it so happened there was no enemy
bar in search of more fortune. Some of them threat, as it turned out, that night. Add this
were so talented that they would also go kind of excitement to the other dangers of
and retrieve their customers from the police being there, which included the risk of being
stations. arrested by the Bombay police. We made
our way home that night on a motorcycle, in
pitch darkness. It was difficult to see where
you were going because of headlights being
banned during that time.
A few years later, prohibition was lifted
from Bombay, in 1972. And the government
stepped in with country-made-liquor shops
which tried to imitate the Aunty’s hooch,
Prohibition posters in Hindi illustrating the ill effects of
drinking. From left to right, they read: “A drunkard’s complete with flavours like Narangi and
journey;” “One in ten drinks—stop the proliferation of Mosambi.
alcohol;” and “The feeling of drunkenness wipes out
a man’s sense of self.” Courtesy, Mumbai Heritage on But the romance of the Aunty’s bars died
Twitter for ever.
Fear was part of the adventure and
excitement of visiting an Aunty’s bar. It was
common knowledge that all Aunty’s bars
would be raided by the police at one time or
another and then you would have to depend
on the Aunty to bail you out. I found the
accompanying snacks with our drinks quite
interesting. Standard fare was boiled eggs
and boiled channa, and somehow they made
good accompaniment those days although
I would abhor the idea of having these with The “official” country liquor shops could never match the
my drinks today. feel of the Aunty’s bars

SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #25 | JULY 2021 57