One for the Road
Bottoms up: Malayala Manorama, 6 th July, 2008. A very interesting news item with a title “Hartalinu Ernakulam kudichuteerthathu 3 kodi”. This roughly translates to “Ernakulam drank up 3 crores on Hartal day”. Ernakulam district ‘celebrated’ a hartal day recently by consuming alcohol worth Rs 3 Crores! There was a 30 to 40% increase in the alcohol sales on the eve of the hartal day. Which means all “Bevadas” in Ernakulam decided to stock up their favourite brands to celebrate the hartal day! Beverages Corporation, which has 46 outlets selling alcohol, recorded a rise of more than 50% increase in sales. Another interesting development was the price of chicken. From Rs 50.00 per kilo, the price rose to Rs 62 for the hartal rush and all sellers enjoyed a two fold increase in sales volume. A few days before the hartal, the market was facing a shortage due to a truckers’ strike, but the hartal rush solved all the problems of the chicken market.! So many people are happy! All wi...