The Downside of Tourism.

Look beyond the fun and colorful face of this beach tourist town I often see things that makes me wonder if the influx of tourist money is all a good thing. For instance on the way home to the hut one evening I stopped to buy some mangoes from a small stall ran by a local husband and wife. This night however, the wife looked even more sad than usual. She weighed the mangoes but was trying to avoid stepping over something beneath the counter. I noticed that her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying. As I handed her the money her husband’s head popped up from underneath the counter; he had been out cold drunk on the floor of the shop and had just woken up. Without even seeing me, he started to shout at her and she held her head low as if in shame. He got up then staggered onto the chair where the money drawer was set up. As his back was turned, I made a face at him and asked her, through hand signals and expressions if he had been drinking? She nodded a yes, and started to cry. What has this women endured I wondered, was this a nightly event, him getting drunk on the days takings and abusing her. Did the verbal abuse stop there or did he beat her as well? How much of their meager income was he pissing against the wall as she worked hard? And how many kids did she have to worry about feeding that night and the next day since he had spent their money on booze. The biggest question though is, if tourist money was not flowing into Arambol would he have income to spend on alcohol? Did he drink like this before they set up their fruit stall, or was he always a drunk? All questions I do not know the answer to: all I could do was show her that I felt her pain and wished she did not to deal with this horrid situation. As she handed me my change I do not know what came over me but I took a step off the pavement and into her shop, put my arm around her and as I stroked her back, I felt her tears on my shoulder. She is only one of the many women I have seen in India who have to deal with drunk and abusive husbands and every time my heart breaks to see this. So how much money is enough  to help a family survive if a husband and father can’t control his urge to get drunk?