A Toddy Shop

"In India, the toddy shop may well be called ‘The Poor Man’s Club’," wrote Mahatma Gandhi in Harijan (1928),"the well- to-do folks have Willingdon Clubs and Gymkhanas of diverse description, to fulfil their instinct of sociability and to give them recreation even when they do not need it. So does the poor man have the toddy shop for the same purpose. There he finds a relaxation after a long day in the dust and roar of the factory such as the crowded and slouchy rooms he calls home will not furnish. Here he can escape the crying children and get the companionship of men interested in the same things.... The toddy shop is a democratic institution, open freely to everyone, disregarding caste and creed. For when you reach there, all are pruned to a common level from where you rise above human sentiments into an ethereal state of existence." (Quoted in the fascinating article by Darinee Alagirisamy, The problem with neera: The (un)making of a national drink in late colonial India, p. 8)