DHONDMAL, (Pune), July 1: Some 80 km north of Pune lies Dhondmal, a village most of us have never cared or will ever care to visit. But this tiny speck on the map of Maharashtra deserves a good look. For, this village has succeeded where most governments have failed. It has been almost 30 years since Dhondmal last entertained a tippler.

They call it `Darubandi' here. No liquor, no tipplers. There is even a board on the road leading to the village which says: ``This is prohibition area. No drunk allowed in the village''. And the man with the eagle eye, the one who ensures that all who come calling take note of the warning, is none other than Motiram Kashinath Ghule, pushing fifties but once the proud owner of a liquor joint.

But Ghule is not the only `Darubandi' enforcer. The entire village cracks the whip. And to good effect. The board announcing the prohibition is held in high esteem, paraded in the annual yatra of the village goddess Kamaljadevi. Dhondmal is perhaps the only case of its kind in Maharashtra.

Where villagers have learnt to discipline themselves and successfully maintain a complete ban on distillation and consumption of liquor.

Where the elderly have taught the youth that they can do without the assistance of the Government or the NGOs. Where even wedding invitation cards make it clear that it will be a party minus the spirits.

Tipplers who enter Dhondmal are promptly given marching orders, never mind even if they are the rich and the important. The more obstinate and the belligerent are turned over to the police. Years of self-discipline have helped the people of Dhondmal acquire an uncanny knack of sniffing out all such visitors.

So when Subodh Awate, head of the local Darubandi Samiti, says that ``not a single man can dare enter the village after he hits the bottle'', he is not bragging. He is right when he says that Dhondmal is free from liquor.

In his view, one reason why this became possible was that the village learnt not to have anything to do with politics or politicians. If there are no vote seekers, there will be no liquor.

Three decades ago, it was an entirely different story. Almost all men in the village swore by the bottle.The situation became so bad that village elders finally decided to call a meeting of the Gram Sabha. An appeal was made, urging all men to kick the bottle. Women and children rallied behind the elders. But it was not good enough.

Finally, a group headed straight to nearby Ghulewadi where Motiram stocked the country brew and waited for sundown and his customers. The den was ransacked by the group and the Ghules were made to promise that they would no longer brew their evil concoction.

The Ghules later turned Malkaris, followers of the Warkari sect, who are expected to observe a strict code of conduct in personal and social life and are not given to worldly pleasures and temptations.

Encouraged, the villagers devised their own set of rules to tackle the tipplers. The village temple has a bell which, if it tolls thrice, signals the arrival of a drunk.

People scramble out of their homes and collect around the person who has sounded the alarm. The offender is named, cornered and brought before the elders who then go about conducting a test to confirm intoxication. Action follows the confirmation.

Subodh Awate says this system worked so well that women regularly had their husbands taken to task by simply clanging the temple bell.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.