Booze keeps UK-based Punjabis in ‘high spirits’

Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, May 8

Booze keeps the Punjabis of the United Kingdom in ‘high spirits’ as  alcohol is one of the most ‘favourite drug’ of the England-based robust community, a survey has revealed.

A large number --- 63 per cent men and 53 per cent women --- are likely to have had a shot at least once in any given week, mainly for direct or indirect promotion of booze through entertainment, songs, films, other media and social interaction, the survey has found.

While liquor consumption is strictly prohibited in Sikhism, the ‘firewater’ remained to be one of the most ‘prevalent drug’ in use by the UK-based Punjabi community. It was a different matter that women outshone men for 45 per cent of them as compared to 35 per cent men do not drink at all or who drink only on special occasions---a correlation with general trends prevailing across the UK.

“Thirty-two per cent of men drank up to three times a week compared to only 13 per cent women. Drinking only on special occasions was the next most popular option with 24 per cent of members of all ages of the Punjabi community. Only 3 per cent of respondents drank at least once per day and 22 per cent guzzled spirits up to three times per week,” revealed the British Sikh Report-2019—a survey conducted annually with an objective to collect British Sikhs’ views on various aspects of life. The survey was also assessed against the information available from the 2011 Census.

The most surprising BSR finding pointed out that 13 per cent of the UK-based ‘Amritdhari’ respondents had tasted the booze at some frequency, 4 per cent on special occasions and 4 per cent had a shot three times a week.

Seventy-five per cent of the British Sikhs, the BSR report revealed, were happy that nobody in their household consumed enough liquor that could be detrimental to their health and 70 per cent were elated to note that none in their home drank enough to affect another member of the household in a serious way.

Ninety per cent of the members of the British Punjabi community—particularly Sikhs--- had never tried tobacco, cannabis or any other recreational drugs, for tobacco had a particular stigma attached to it in respect to Punjabi culture. On the contrary, the Royal College of General Practioners report suggested that use of cannabis was overtaking tobacco among young Britishers.

Interestingly, 79 per cent of the UK Sikhs of all age groups strongly believed that the UK government should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, while 85 percent of them believe that it should be made an integral part of the UK school syllabus. Prosecution of perpetrators the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, provision of financial assistance and freedom of Sikh ‘political prisoners’ in India figured at the top of thoughts of the British Sikhs.

While around 23 per cent of British Sikhs aged 65 or above had visited Guru Nanak Dev’s birth place—Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, a whopping number of 92 per cent young Sikhs, aged 19 or under, yearned to connect with the history of Sikhism and were longing to visit Nankana Sahib and other historical gurdwaras in Pakistan at least once in their lifetime.