Drink in Moderation, hic, Don’t Drink at All!

A few things upset us today. It isn’t easy looking at a mother mourning the death of her child. It tugs at the heart. That’s exactly what we saw this morning returning from church. First, the bitch was standing on the road, licking the blood of the puppy, flat on the ground, apparently dead. Its situation was desperate, and we wondered if animals have thoughts, feelings, sadness, grief, like all of us have so abundantly. She was licking the blood that had splattered on the road after some careless driver had run over her puppy, her beloved child. She looked sad. Apparently she knew it was the blood that had to flow back into the baby if it was to be alive again. And she was all grief in the way she stood, bent over, not able to believe her child was dead. Oh God! Why can’t they drive a bit carefully, the road was wide enough, clean enough, a five star hotel stood across it, and the New Bombay police commissionerate was on the other side, its parade grounds resounding with the shouts of new recruits. What made these people in vehicles so desperate? They must have been drunk to do something so reckless.

A cousin brother of a dear relative is in the last stages. They see no hope. He is on ventilator and will die if they pull the plug. He is an excessive drinker, married off his daughters, had a decent enough life with his working wife, two incomes, smart children, all comforts of living, life wasn’t bad. When I would visit him, he would say only a few words, being silent for the most part, his face flushed with the intoxicants he had consumed. What makes men take to drinks with a vengeance? Well, ahem, obviously when they first drink it’s teenage rebellion, then youthful angst, and sooner than later, it becomes a habit and an obsession. We enjoy a drink once in a while and have liked the slow numbing effect as it takes hold of the brain and the faculties. But, excessive drinking? No, we threw up once and that was enough. Finito! An intoxicant is to be had slowly, relished rather than gulped, and when it makes ones head reel, one has to stop right there, or, one will have in excess and the devil will overcome. We know the liquor guys like Vijay M won't like this, but what can we say given the way he flaunts his ill-gotten wealth, all made from destroying someone's family and life.

We went around to our friends for quotes for this piece. Here’s what Anthonybhai (a drinker himself) recommends: drink in moderation, men, or don’t drink at all. It destroys lives and families, tell you men, solid men, it destroyed lives of a few friends of mine.