It is said that every spoken word reverberates for some amount of time depending upon what it conveys and more often who said them. The words of great men tend to last longer, often across centuries, repeated and thus kept alive by admirers, followers and critics alike. We never know how or when a statement made centuries ago may change our lives or at least make a minor change in the course of our lives.
It happened to me!
It was the front verandah of WB 191 Berchha Enclave AKA South Block.
“Virtue deserts a man who through lack of wisdom drinks alcohol. ‘He’ is a scorn to all ‘Humanity’”. The statement was made by the ‘infamous’ guru of the Kauravas, Shukracharya more than 2000 years ago and found its way to me, the last repeater of the statement being my coursemate Hari. It wasn’t the first time that I, a fairly regular face at the bar, had heard someone scorn at alcohol. But this time for some mysterious reason decided to linger on for a little.. actually much longer than usual. The biochemical reactions controlling flashbacks in the complex human brain fired and I started thinking of a time, not so long ago, when alcohol wasn’t an everyday affair. The effects of the drinking binges and the regular drinking began to show by way of an ever bulging belly and seemingly shrinking clothes. Even the short run in the evenings began to seem like never ending voyages.
There was definitely something wrong. I began to think of things I never thought I would. Things like weight, my performance in physical tests and other things which were never a concern. I definitely had to get out of this. I took a decision which I had never imagined would come so soon. I have to jump to the other side of the fence, from “he” (who drinks alcohol) to the “humanity” (to which it is a scorn). So far so good. Hope I can make a change for the better.
P.S. I don’t plan to quit alcohol. Just want to bring it to less harmful limits.
