Quit Kerala Movement

The Indian National Congress including Gandhi and Nehru started the "Quit India" movement to protest the British colonial occupation of India and to protest the poor treatment of Indians and the Indian second class citizenry in their own land. I also recently heard a story that the reason the Taj group of hotels was started was because the godfather of the Tata family was denied access to a British hotel, so he decided to create his own.

Where am I going with this? Ravi and I are in Fort Cochin, Kerala right now and we were denied rum & coke at a late night restaurant last night (after arriving very late to our hotel, on a delayed flight). 20 foreigners of Caucasian descent were enjoying late dinner and drinks, but after asking 3 different waiters who were all confused and just following orders we consulted the manager and he explained to us that the Police crack down on restaurants serving liquor to anyone who looks "local" meaning Indian. We weren't surprised there were issues serving alcohol in Kerala because it's almost a de facto dry state, what with the difficulty and expense in obtaining liquor licences here, establishments are forced to serve beer to customers in tea pots... but what we were most perturbed by was the flagrant indian on indian discrimination that I've lamented sometimes in Indian run establishments in the bay area!

After a little discussing with the manager, a heated response on my part, and a calm one from ravi we left the restaurant bewildered. I had argued with the manager wondering why as Americans we couldn't be exempt from this odd double standard... he didn't grasp english enough to really supply a good response, but later I surmised that the main issue is a misplaced notion that if anyone who looks indian is allowed to drink, other indians may sow the seeds of dissent, in a state where there are tight restrictions on liquor consumption. To see white people drinking on the other hand would be expected by locals, their depravity, liberalness, etc. would be a commonplace stereotype.

I'm very interested in learning more about the Kerala double standard and writing to Lonely Planet, which generally writes to a white audience, to talk about the perils of world travel as a westerner of non European descent... I'm sure I'll revisit this topic again...