INDIA: Looking Backward

U.S. tourists nostalgic for the gamy days of the 1920s can find echoes of the Prohibition Era in present-day India. As the members of India's Central Prohibition Committee met last week in New Delhi, the capital around them went its merry alcoholic way. In private apartments converted into speakeasies, tired Delhi businessmen sipped beer at 10 rupees ($2) a bottle. In Connaught Circus, the heart of town, young spivs sold paper bags containing liquor, soda and ice. A man walking along with a bicycle tire over his shoulder might be on his way to fix a flat,...

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