Rampant alcoholism, pockets of gambling and frequent suicides set the tone for the social lives of fishermen, farmers and salt pan workers in Tuticorin district. While piling debts to sustain their livelihoods batter them on the one hand, they are also beset by a host of other debilitating issues.
At 4 PM in the urban fishing locale of Thracepuran in Tuticorin, many fishermen are already drunk even as boats that have returned from fishing trips in the afternoon unload their catches. Mr. John Fernandes, who had just returned after fishing for crabs, says, “Sometimes it’s the stench of fishes that makes us drink. Sometimes, when we return to land after 4-5 days of continuous fishing in deep waters, we are frustrated and agonized by the ordeal, and so we drink. At other times, it is the domestic problems or the debts. The debts just refuse to let go.”
The incidence of domestic violence, according to the womenfolk of Thracepuram, increases when the men drink because they have not recovered the day’s investment. Some, however, fiercely admit that they are strong willed: “when the men hit us, we don’t hesitate to hit back”. They say the problem is further aggravated by the proximity of the state-run TASMAC shops, which gives the men access to cheap alcohol and makes them more addicted. Sophilia, a final-year college student, sayes, “If a fisherman earns Rs. 500 on a trip, at least Rs. 200 is spent in buying liquor.” She also suggested that some more is lost in gambling.
In 2009, a group of women from many households rallied against a TASMAC outlet that had been opened within the settlement and forced it to be shut. The incident occurred after a lorry carrying liquor to the store had run over three fishermen. Now, the nearest outlet is almost a kilometer away, but that hasn’t been a strong enough deterrent.
According to Father Simon, a missionary engaged in rehabilitation activities, 450 families in Thracepuram alone were affected by alcoholism and gambling. At the same time, falling standards of sanitation in the neighbourhood he said have led to water contamination, further adversely affecting the health of drinkers. Hospitals have been built nearby, but they also mean further expenses.
In fact, Mr. Ayyappan, a resident of Rajapandinagar, a 30-year old settlement populated only by salt pan workers, quipped that the nearest hospital was almost five times as far away as the nearest TASMAC outlet, which meant men were more likely to forget their troubles drinking than consult the doctor.
Even in places where access to alcohol is non-existent, the problem refuses to disappear. In Vagaikulam, Vadivel, a landless agricultural labourer aged 56, says, “There are many mobile vendors of alcohol who come to the village once a week. They buy liquor from elsewhere and peddle it to us at the same price.” When asked if any of them were affiliated with the government, he laughed.
Alanthalai, another fishing hamlet near Arel, also suffers from losses in gambling. Freyton, a 40-year old fisherman whose ancestors have all been employed in fishing, said that after the boats returned from a 12-hour trip at 8 AM, the men have the rest of the day off, and spend it playing cards and gambling.
Even though the younger men remained reluctant to admit how much they gambled with every day, the elders begrudged that it was anywhere between Rs. 100 and Rs. 1,000. And with costs of kerosene, diesel and even the fishing nets increasing, these addictions are becoming more luxurious.
The direst consequence of these issues is suicides amongst the labourers and their families. Father Simon says that in the last week of December alone, there had been three suicides in Thracepuram. He adds that post mortems were never performed on the victims, lending credibility to some doubts that they may not have been suicides. Sophilia, the college student, believes that alcoholism is the root cause of the suicides and informs that her relative’s son, aged 21, had recently immolated himself as a consequence of an alcoholism issue.
Let alone the economic prognosis, such social distress constantly steeps these communities of farmers, labourers and fishermen into costly addictions. Even though organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous and the local church hold rehabilitation programs in the villages of this district, the people’s participation is feeble. Those affected want to take action only after they have been affected significantly, and until then, the distress goes unnoticed.
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