Marriage is no protection against alcohol, concludes a recent survey. Maybe the researchers fudged out of politeness ? or fear of domestic strife. It would be more reasonable to push the proposition to its logical limit: alcohol is the protection in marriage. When the concept of married bliss turns out to be just so much sales talk, beaded bubbles may offer exactly the right amount of refraction to create the rosy glow that makes the close company of two bearable. In contrast, single, widowed, divorced and separated people do not drink as much or, at least, do not admit to it. The survey studies patterns of alcohol consumption among men and women in India and the effects of prohibition. Among the socio-economic indicators used, education, caste and standard of living show significant results, but marital status has yielded the most interesting findings by far.

Perhaps Indian wives do not wield the same power over their husbands? health habits as do wives in developed countries, suggests the report. That is, women are better nags elsewhere. A bit of imagination could give the picture a rosier tint, since women are drinking too. Indian women are devoted to their husbands, and are most likely to follow them on the primrose path to wherever it might lead. And if the observation that Indians drink to get drunk and stay drunk as long as possible is taken as fact, then there are a myriad reasons for couples to drink ? together and apart. One of the most charming and misleading myths of modern times concerns the virtues of co-addiction. To wean one partner from dangerous addiction without screaming matches would entail the controlled accompaniment of the other in the addiction. Going part of the way to turn the wanderer back. Married and slurring is such an interesting state to be in ? with so many reasons to be that way.

Drinking in India has increased remarkably, and so has social acceptance of a once condemned practice. Per capita consumption of alcohol has grown by 115 per cent since 1980. The survey does not distinguish between risk drinking and healthy drinking, so it is not clear on which side thirsty couples should be placed. But in this country, with huge numbers of the really poor, drinking is high risk for the greater number, not only because of the damage to health, but also, if not more, because of the diversion of meagre resources from food, medicine and children?s needs. Too many women and children in India are helpless victims of men?s drunkenness. But men in the villages apparently indulge far less in risk drinking than illiterate or poorly educated men in cities. Predictably, good boys do not drink: men drink less as they go up the educational scale. Conversely, the most highly educated women drink as much as their illiterate and poorly educated compatriots, while the soberest women are those who have passed school or just gone through college. Women refuse to be simple, even in drinking habits. More reason to keep a bottle handy when sharing a life with them.