With Friends and TGIF

Like any other mid thirties and still single, I do have my share of pressure of all sorts from all sides. In this stage of life, when responsibilities and commitments look more like final paper, I and a few to-be-expired bachelors have come up with Thank God Its Friday [TGIF]. Boozing, singing, banging et cetera is all part of TGIF, and we are beginning to learn the ropes marking the work week has officially ended. A lesson from the West. Enjoyment of drinking matters, nothing else, not even sex.

  

In the weekdays, these selected friends are immersed in work, thoroughly occupied and nothing matters, a commitment they made to these present day booming MNCs. Though my working days are from Monday to Saturday, and sometimes Sunday, I have to sacrifice Friday and Saturday night for them. Of course I have to, because there is a thin line between loneliness and happiness at this stage of life, and I am sure I won’t prefer the loneliness side. I may sound desperate, but true, I admit.

  

Above all these pressures, another pressure is of the season – summer. Yesterday, it was 43 at mercury, imagine about the night. After day’s work, I feel like I lost all the minerals and liquids in the body. Sit for some minutes, unable to decide whether to skip the jogging session for the evening or just ease the stress with a nap. Then I realize its TGIF tomorrow, I won’t have a control on my appetite, besides I have to maintain my ego – no first user of excuse for “No More Drinks” like “No First Use of Nuclear Weapons Policy of Govt. of India”. At this age, loosing weight is difficult, but living fit is important, so I must run to go closer to get my ideal goal weight, rather than succumb to crash diets for it. And yes, beating the dull caused by the heat of 43 degree Celsius, I completed my goal of running 6 km without interruption. Now I won’t mind waking up with a puffy face, inflated tummy on Sunday morning after much enjoyment with friends on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s not all about wine and meats, truly, but also about maintaining my social circles outside social networking like Facebook, Twitter and e-mails. These days, many of us finish up chatting and liking at social networking sites, and hardly getting time for eachother even to wish.

In the night, when I was reading the final proof of a book written by Rajiv Kshetri, JNU, my attention was caught in the following lines… “in the early 90s, the government of Manipur declared the state as a DRY state leading to a complete shift in the nature of alcoholism in a different turn...it is true in one sense that over-consumption of alcohol could have a negative impact in the growth of society...however, the way it has been prohibited over the years has resulted for a large section of youth to use other forms of drugs as an alternative to alcohol…”. [Kakching-The Community]

I agree with the author to a great extent. In some states, say Gujarat, Manipur, Mizoram [Manufacture, sale and consumption of wine from guavas and grapes permitted but wine cannot be transported out of the state], Nagaland [Since 1989, sale and consumption illegal], and the union territory of Lakshadweep, consumption of alcohol is prohibited. But none of the states has this problem of youths using other forms of drugs like tablet etc happening in Manipur. Sometimes, “spare the rod spoil the child” principle doesn’t work. This, you can witnessed at any of the popular night clubs in Delhi [or in any metro], with increasing number of youths of our state. Suddenly, too much freedom without restraining from anyone, and no moral policing, its obvious of going out of control.