Dry days—the holidays you will come to dread, if you weren’t smart enough to stock your bar up beforehand, that is.
Around 10 days of the year, we receive a pretty special phone call from our local wine shop, Deepak Wines. “Madam/ Sirji, kal dry day hai,” they warn us, checking in to see what we’d like to stock up with. The parental concern is almost palpable, and we couldn’t be more grateful for it. But not everybody is lucky enough to have such a responsible Wine Shop around the corner, so we decided to make things just a little bit easier for you. In our country, as per the Alcohol Laws of India, we have a series of dry days, depending on the state you live in. While the need for dry days during things like election days are not lost on us, there are several others that seem utterly ridiculous.
Dry days will not stop us from drinking to our fill, and making merry. For those who wish to undertake this oath with us, here’s a list of days when you’re unlikely to find alcohol anywhere. Mark the dates on your calendar, so you can stock up in advance:
January 15: Makar Sankranti
January 26: Republic Day
January 30: Shaheed Diwas (Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary)
February 18: Swami Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti
February 19: Chhatrapati Shivaji Jayanti
February 21: Maha Shivratri
April 2: Ram Navmi
April 6: Mahavir Jayanti
April 10: Good Friday
May 1: Maharashtra Day
May 7: Buddha Purnima
May 25: Eid Ul Fitr
July 1: Ashadi Ekadashi
July 31: Bakri Eid
August 12: Janmashtami
August 15: Independence Day
August 22: Ganesh Chaturthi
August 29: Muharram
October 2: Gandhi Jayanti
October 25: Dussehra
October 31: Valmiki Jayanti
November 25: Kartik Ekadashi
November 30: Guru Nanak Jayanti
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