To drink or not to drink

There are so many names to it. Whisky, Vodka, Brandy, Beer. But collectively it is called as alcohol or liquor. With our Bangalore getting more trendy and “Westernized”, the alcohol consumption also has become more and more. It starts with college and stays till death.

There are so many reasons for someone to start drinking alcohol. (I will just say start because it’s seldom stopped!!!). When I drank beer for the first time, the taste was disgusting and it smelled like a gutter. I wondered how people get addicted to such a thing. I didn’t know about the fantasy world it carries you to. But I must say the hangover is a torture.

In India and especially in the old fashioned orthodox families, it is considered as a sin to drink alcohol. I didn’t understand the rationale behind this attitude. Hence, I tried to do some research and see if any particular reason was there behind this.

Then after I read some books and thought a lot about it, I interpreted the reason. Alcohol removes the alertness from mind and you lose control of your own mind. But our ancient sciences have always emphasized on having control on one’s own mind. That’s been the basis for any kind of meditation and also for all religious and spiritual rituals. It’s believed that the man’s soul itself is god and hence should be kept clean and pure.


It can also be said that if the mind is not in one’s control, the person can do something disastrous and under the influence of alcohol, he becomes lazy. There can be many other interpretations but I thought these were the most rational ones.
Though the reason for abandoning it was a higher level one, in India as new generations emerged, alcohol consumption was treated as a sin and the person who does that, a sinner. The person who drinks alcohol would usually be a villain in the eyes of the children of a family.

But fortunately or unfortunately the attitude of Bangaloreans is fast changing thanks to the globalization which is making us more broad minded and open for new ideas.