As a species, the homo sapiens is always looking for a high. Cheers, he clinks glasses; ‘this round is on me’. How did the first pie-eyed person explain his goofy grin, and what did pioneer hooch look like? From that accidental ferment of moonshine a million years ago to the 60-year-old Macallan sold at $1,100,000, tippling went from routine bro-bonding to a gender-neutral ice-breaker. Alcohol is served everywhere—on planes, at parties, book launches, weddings, funerals… Most homes sport a bar.
All, except those under the legal age of drinking, have to declare ‘what’s their poison’ sooner or later. Smoothly and softly and with lilting laughs at all the wrong places, we become social drinkers. And sometimes secret alcoholics who in the privacy of our homes, in the darkest hours of our life, glug down all we can lay our hands on. The aesthetics of intoxication point to artistic dare-devilry, to arty lows and subsequent sky-high levels of creativity. It also stands for the well-travelled world-weary sophisticate, whose palate has tasted every wine there is.
Drinking itself seems fait accompli, something you do anyway. It is the norm, always in fashion, a coming of age, the done thing. Free booze, of course, has its own fatal attractions, with many led away on their fours or frankly throwing up on the host’s imported carpet. Drinking has become the modern language of equality between genders, colleagues, couples, friends and strangers; it robs us of inhibitions, relaxes us bone by bone, a fake bonhomie prevails. ‘Let’s get drunk,’ we say, for we need that buzz.People drink for courage before a date or job interview, to combat loss or boredom. The association of a few pegs with a kind of acceptable inebriation is a universal connecting factor between the seemingly disparate. We then become fun.
Winos live one sip to next, with most declaring they can hold their drink. But is there a precise moment when a party animal turns into a slurring old fool? The bottle can become your only friend at the end of the day, when the lowest of lows follow the highest of highs. For the woes we drink to forget wait for us to wake up dry-mouthed with racing hearts. Latest stats say 3.1 million drink to stave off loneliness in the UK. One adult in 10 drinks to feel less lonely, adds the Turning Point study.
Though a casual search on the net alerts us to all the damage any spirit can wreak on the body, we get on by drinking more and Googling less. Somehow, the bad press smoking got in recent times, with non-smokers now almost superior to smokers in public spaces, has not yet applied to booze. No vital organ escapes a binge. Occasional bottoms-up or delirium tremens, alcohol is a synthetic stress-buster. The warmth singing through your body, kick-starting witty banter with that lady to your left, is only some cheap chemical she can smell on your breath.In this day and age to declare yourself a teetotaller is shameful. To totter into a cab at midnight, row loudly, have a little blackout now and then is the cool thing to do. ‘You don’t drink?’ is always asked on a rising pitch of disbelief. Sobriety is for chauffeurs who drive you back home.
In this day and age to declare yourself a teetotaller is shameful. To totter into a cab at midnight, row loudly, have a little blackout now and then is the cool thing to do. ‘You don’t drink?’ is always asked on a rising pitch of disbelief.
Shinie Antony Author shinieantony@gmail.com