Is it still haraam ?

It was raining almost the whole weekend in Madras - atleast quite a bit on Saturday and
really good on Sunday. This year, the weather gods seem to have blessed Madras quite abundantly, as far as rains are concerned. On second thoughts, is it a blessing ? Because
Madras will not really be able to cope with such rains and the place would get flooded
creating problems for all. The last time I saw such rains was more than a decade ago
(electric train tracks flooded, no traffic etc).

So, what do you do on a weekend when it is pouring and without much that you can do ?
Well, if you are Mallus (the Tamilians too are catching up), you get a few friends together,
buy some nice liquor, order some great home-delivered and have a blast. That's exactly
what we did on Saturday evening. Initially planned to be a small group of just 3 friends,
it extended to double that number due to some friends dropping in.

The three new entrants were friends of my friend and not previously known to me. While
introductions were being made, I found that one of them is a Muslim. I have many Muslim
friends and what I have noticed among them is that a vast majority of them do not drink.
You could say around 95% do not drink. But, take Christians or Hindus and it is exactly
the opposite - you might not even find 5% that do not drink.

To my surprise, our friend (let's call him Ahmed) was the most impatient for the glasses
to go around. After a few rounds had gone around, I slowly put forward my doubt to him.

Me : Is it not haraam for you guys to drink ?
Ahmed : Which age are you living in, man ?

Me : Well, I have not seen many Muslim guys that drink.
Ahmed : Well, earlier they did not because it was haraam.

Me : So, what has changed now ?
Ahmed : Well, 3 years ago, a minor modification was made to the rule book and so it is OK
for us to drink too.

Me : What modification was done that makes it OK for you guys to drink ?
Ahmed : Instead of "Liquor is haraam", it has been modified to "Liquor is haram".

That was a good one that I heard in a long time.

P.S. : For those who don't know, "Haraam" means something that is forbidden & "Haram"
in Malayalam means "fantasy" or "desire".