The World Cup fever is almost at its climax now. Whether it be in restaurants, hotel lobbies or airports, people are just craning to watch the latest football matches. It seems the whole world has gone World Cup crazy. Everybody is anxiously waiting for the final match in South Africa. The football fever in Kathmandu is also at its peak.
The young crowds of Kathmandu seem to be most crazy about football World Cup. However, it’s not only football that’s fun for them. They need something else that make it more fun. While running their inquisitive eyes on the screens, these youngsters want to enjoy sipping away their favorite drinks. The consumption of alcohol has seen a dramatic rise after the football World Cup began.
“I meet up with my friends, drink beer or wine while watching the World Cup. Watching it with friends is great fun, and, needless to say, drinks add more excitement, ” says Ojeshwi Manandhar from Lalitpur.
Football World Cup has had great impact on people, particulary on youths. People, these days, rarely stay back home and watch football. They want to watch it on big screens and with their buddies. Prabhat Bhattarai from Koteshwar watches football at Mahadevsthan Party Palace, which is near his locality. He says that even small kids and girls come and watch the matches. However, Bhattarai is not happy about what they don’t allow in the football watching hall. “I am quite disappointed with the organizers because they don’t allow any drinks there,” complains Bhattarai.
Drinking is very common amongst the youth these days. People hardly watch games without having a sip of a drink. That’s why almost all the restaurants and bars are full of people watching football match there.
Suman Giri from Ramkot said that nobody in his circle of friends watches the World Cup without a glass of drink in hand. Similarly, Pallav Acharya from Kapan says he usually goes to Old Friends Restaurant located at Sorhakhutte to watch the game with his brothers and pals. And about drinks? During the games he says he alone consumes at least five to seven bottles of beer!
Sunil Lama, the owner of the restaurant, says that his restaurant has become like a hub for youngsters and that drinking for them, it seems, is as mandatory as cheering. He further puts it that the young guys enjoy the game only after they have their share of drinks.
No doubt, World Cup has brought a good business to restaurants, cafes and bars. “Drinks worth more than fifteen thousand rupees are sold during a single game,” says Mishra Dilli, the marketing manager of Jazabell Cafe, Jhamsikhel.
Drinking while applauding your team seems to be a great fun to youths. However, some guys don’t drink responsibly and create a problem. The manager confided that foreigners come in lesser number than Nepalis for fear of being mistreated. There have been a few instances where a few Nepali boys behaved rudely with the staff of the cafe after getting drunk. On one occasion, the drunk boys didn’t even spare a foreign girl.
This incident has created a fear in the minds of some restaurant owners and now they try to close the cafe before 10:00 pm. However, other restaurant operators are making good use of liquor-loving youths and close their restaurants only late at night. Other restaurants are even providing free drinks and snacks who make their bills worth more than two thousand rupees.
At this growing trend of drinking alcohol among youths, it seems parents are the only ones who appear to be most concerned. The heads of Jha family fall under that category.
Janaki Jha laments that her son once jumped off a wall and went out to watch the match at a cafe even when she had restricted him from doing so. To stop that incident happening again, she says she has now admitted her kid to a hostel. “I asked him to stay back and locked his room only to find him drunk and lying on the street nearby,” sighed Jha. Luckily, her neighbors were kind enough to bring their son back home.
“I wonder why the Home Ministry doesn’t prohibit drinking at night, at least until the football World Cup is over. I think that would be the only way to stop the youths going out at night and getting intoxicated,” complains her husband.
Published in – Republica National Daily, July 11th 2010
