Say 'NO' to Alcohol

Uh-huh. I can't seem to find any half-decent topic to write about today. It's been a pretty uneventful couple of days, there just isn't anything worthwhile to talk about. Well, I suppose I could talk about India's yet another dismal performance against South Africa, but that's too sordid a topic to be touching upon. On an entirely different subject, I've always been more than a bit surprised at the phenomenal support given by celebrities and ALL important people to AIDS awareness as was evident quite vividly on 1 December, World AIDS Day. Now I'm not saying this is not a terrific thing, but I do believe that if celebs contributed just a fraction of their efforts to other, slightly more pertinent causes, the world, and especially India, would be a lot better place to live in.

Perhaps the biggest disease faced by mankind is not cancer or AIDS, but alcoholism. Considering the very diffusive consequences of drinking, boozing or whatever cooler term you wish to use for the disgusting habit, it is very surprising that hardly any attention is paid to this malaise. No sir, all the celebs in the world will willingly spend their very abundant time fervently urging anyone and everyone to quit smoking, but when it comes to alcohol, a cursory glance does the job, quite like an indulgent parent would view his child getting dirty in the rain. And seeing as how any 'philanthropic' work is almost always done for the sake of PR anyway, I often wonder whether there is any point at all to the existence of celebrities. But this is getting beside the point. What I'm trying to say is that attitudes towards alcohol have been going along a very dangerous course, with drinking now having become so acceptable that hardly anyone considers it even remotely close to being a vice anymore. Heck, we have now come to a stage when a person who doesn't drink is held to be a wimp!

Seriously, what on earth is wrong with us? Can't we SEE the spectacularly disastrous effects of drinking? Family problems, accidents, crimes, the complete and clinical messing up of lives, isn't it all so obvious? Some people argue that it's all a matter of control-if you can control the amount of alcohol you consume, you've got no problems at all. However, it's a known fact that no alcoholic starts off as one. It always starts off with drinking socially, a couple of drinks a day, or drinking only when 'in the mood'. One can never know for sure just what staggering incident can act as the trigger to the descent into the murky depths of alcoholism. And once there, it's hard to get out of it, no matter how efficient the rehab centre is.

Personally, I think alcohol is just as bad as drugs, possibly even worse, considering the lenient attitudes towards it. I'm sorry, but drinking, whether socially or out of habit, is uncouth, disgusting and loutish. If it were up to me, I would ban alcohol from the face of the earth, and live to see the truly wonderful effects of the ban. Sadly, however, it is NOT 'up to me', so all I can really do is twiddle my thumbs and lament at the great catastrophe unfolding before my very eyes. And, of course, keep as far away from alcohol as Mr. Virender Sehwag is from dazzling form (which, for the uninitiated, is very very very far away). I owe that much to my conscience.