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The PUB culture in England
Rathin Datta FRCS (England, Edinburgh & Glasgow).FFIMS (Athens)
The PUB culture in England
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The Public House (known as Pubs) are businesses that serve alcoholic drinks such as Beer & Ale and usually also non alcoholic drinks such as Lemonades, colas, tea, coffee to be consumed with in the limit of the Public house..they are subject to licensing laws of the country.

                    Many of the Pubs also sell food such as 'fish & chips' or meat pies. Pubs are found in English speaking countries like England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and United States, the pubs are center of community activities.  In some pubs there are hired singers and/or bands to entertain the patrons. In some Pubs there are rooms. Where people can sleep comfortably at night, it then is called 'the inn'. I have on occasions, just for the fun of it had stayed in an inn, woke up late to enjoy the 'brunch' i.e. combined breakfast and lunch of home baked bread, home grown fresh eggs, veggies and a freshly killed chicken for the branch and leave around midday, saying good bye to the Inn-keeper who by then had become a friend, with firm promise to return, which I always honoured.

Breweries may own several pubs or have franchises. Owners are called the Landlords or Land ladies and usually are friendly people; Variety of staff does different jobs and provides good service. Bartenders or barmaids serve the drinks at the bar. In bigger Pubs there would be waiters/waitresses to bring the drinks and food to the customer.

Night clubs are little different. They serve food and music and have dancing floors for dancing. They have more varieties of food, drinks and music. Available are drinks like beer, ale, whiskies, vodka and wide variety of cocktails, mixed variety like 'screwdriver', bloody Mary (vodka with tomato juice) and many more cocktails.

I was a slow starter in becoming a Pub crawler, but slowly became a regular pub visitor, so much so that at the end became a much wanted person for my story telling abilities inherent in our Datta family where most of my uncles/aunts and my father were great story tellers. Compared to my forefathers my own skill was modest, not that great, but compared to the English, who basically are of quiet nature, I scored.

Similar institutions in Bengal who serve alcoholic drinks are called "Suri Khanas"which is mentioned only to be forgotten. Suri khana and Pubs are miles apart. Only the clients in industrial areas in Britain who are mostly foreign labors and Irish people.  Mostly rowdies West Indians, Kenyans, Nigerians could be seen fighting any time. Friday nights were when the weekly wages are paid to the Industrial workers. Emergency Depts. of the hospitals would work overtime did most of my craniotomies (i.e. opening the skulls and repairing the intracranial injuries) on Friday nights when patients came in with head injuries after fighting to the Neurosurgical Dept. where I was the Registrar. This area was the center of high concentrated Industrialization in the outskirts of Manchester .Patients were mostly Irish or Blacks.

I remember a case when we were preparing to enter the Skull of an African who was brought in unconscious after a hit on his head by another of his pal with a beer bottle, our Consultant a noted Neurosurgeon dropped in the OT. A look on the waiting patient on the table, he asked "is the chap on the table a Zulu?” I replied in affirmative.  “Good luck Datta” and he disappeared. He called again after midnight to ask as to how many drills did I break? It was three electric drills that broke and we, the resident Doctors were half dead with fatigue. He knew because he was the surgeon with the allied forces in the African front.  Our boss did the disappearing act as he knew how tough the Zulu skull is.  Zulu warriors of Africa have the thickest skull bones and the largest penis in the world.

The neurosurgery dept. was a goldmine for the trainee surgeons like me with an abundance of neuro trauma cases which helped me to polish my skill in Neurosurgery, where one of my colleagues was Razia Begum from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Dr. Begum was of my age, we graduated in the same year (1957) but in that hospital she was the SHO, my junior, she was the senior house officer, where I was the Registrar, the boss. She would claim to be older, as Muslim girls start late. She was from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), a Bengali speaking and a superb cook of the Dhaka cuisine.

                         I was then carrying a serious grudge against the Muslims of Pakistan remembering the beatings that I was subjected in 1950s in the Parbatipur railway junction where the police and the TT badly beat me up with baton and fist. My fault, I was too young (15 plus),travelling with a pal of mine to Calcutta through the East Pakistan territory was fresh from( British) Shillong where bribe was an unknown thing. The Railway TT and the police wanted hundred rupees for no reason and when we refused to pay, they took away one of my suitcases and beat us up badly with a baton and fist, locked us up for the day without food and water in the heat of July. After midnight we were released by a kind Bengali Judge, who arranged our safe journey to the Beanpole border. I had taken a vow, never to talk to an East Pakistani Muslim, and  Dr. Razia  was one,  though we were in the same unit I refused to talk to her ,till the famous speech of agitated  Razia Begum broke the barrier  "Ami bangali,tuito bangali,katha bolbina keno?  i.e. I am a Bengali,you are also a Bengali,why would  you not talk to me ?  Razia and myself became great friends and being typical ' east bengali   Bangal' soon became her 'bhai'. 'Our residency was a big one ,where 93 doctors of different grades  and nationalities lived,there were about 9 or 10 from west bengal who would tease Sultana for her Dhakai   accent and her speech (Amito bangali tuito bangali…….)

When Sultanas terms ended i.e. completion of  1 yr,she started preparing  to leave for her next job, where her husband was posted, it was time to arrange for her farewell. The confused Matron, who would arrange the farewell party called me for a cup of coffee "tell me Dr. Datta, is Dr. Begum your sister? “Yes I said, any doubt? Any problem? " How can that be ,we have done our research, discussed over lunch today.You are a hindu,from Assam in India and she is a muslim from Dhaka in Pakistan.Hindus and Muslims always fight ,kill each other in thousands so the British had to divide your country. How come you are brothers and sisters, are you lovers?" It was time for me to look confused and angry !  The English have a different mindset, does one  needs to share the same womb to qualify as brothers and sisters?

Dr.Razia Begum  had never been to  anywhere near an English Pub  but wanted desperately to accompany us when we go to one pub in the evenings for she had never been to any or seen any  and  would leave soon.  Our dinner time  was between 6-30 pm and 10 pm. We went to the nearby Pub after dinner was over; the local Pub was just across the road opposite our Emergency block. Johnny’s pub  (he was the third generation Johnny)  was our favourite, he was very friendly, would keep a  corner table  reserved for us,' the doctors corner',  his Beer was the finest .The locality was decent and the crowd that patronized Johnny's were very decent  too. His staff were courteous to us i.e. the doctors of the Infirmary  and would address us by our first name only prefixing doctor before our first name e.g. I was addressed as Dr.Rathin and after I passed my Final FRCS as Mr.Rathin.

In the two years that I remained with that hospital and as a loyal client of the Johnny's, I made quite a few friends who continued the friendship for many years. When I returned to India in the 60's it was pre mobile, pre-email and  pre-texting era. Only postal letters with it's unpredictability and uncertainity and the delay were available, and duly, I lost nearly all the friends of pub origin who were spread over nearly whole of England and part of Scotland.

Back to Johnny's and   Razia Begum, She went with us, sat with a grim face, clutching a lemonade in the hands, intently focusing on the crowd in the Pub, who surprisingly for her were well behaved, quiet man and women, who spoke softly and was most courteous  to the doctor's table. For a Muslim woman to be  in a pub, where man and woman mix freely and drink alcohol and dance in pairs was unthinkable and even watching was a great Gunah.

I asked her "Razia, tui ato mon diye ki dekhchhili" what were you looking at so intently all along",reply was interesting:  "  Bhai bujli, amader deshe mod khele matlami kore , nalaye  gora gori khaye, Sahebguli ki kare dekhte ashechilam,tin ghanta mod khelo , soja hete berie gelo,aschorya  ( see brother, in our country when they drink, they become abusive, roll in the roadside drain, came to see these white man and women, these white men drank for three hours,but walked straight out and went home.!! amazing!! )

Coming out at 10-30 pm the crowd moved out gently to the driveway and drove off .There was no rowdy scene, no drunken guy in the roadside drains .Razia was most surprised, disappointed and impressed seeing the Pub in England In March 2012.

 I was in Dhaka to attend the presentation  ceremony ,where the Bangladesh President and the Prime minister presented me the Prestigious Award "Friend of the Liberation war Honour".My guide tried to contact Dr. Prof. Razia Begum but she was too sick to even pick  the phone and  it was too far for me to travel to where she lived after her retirement, I was  also by then an octogenarian.

 

Rathin Datta, FRCS (England, Edinburgh & Glasgow).FFIMS (Athens) 

Surgeon & Sports Medicine Specialist

Padmashree Awardee, winner of the Bangladesh liberation war honour 

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