You know, I have these moments
where little embers of thoughts crisscross and fly around all over in my head.
A hundred thoughts floating on the brain waves and you don’t know which one to
ride upon.
However, this one particular
ember is rather quite alive and sparkly even after days and takes me back to a
party of few weeks ago. The razzmatazz of it is still vivid in my mind. The
mood was upbeat, the music was foot tapping and the feet were inebriated. It
wasn’t my first time to such an address but what I felt that day kind of made
its way to my deeper cerebrum. As we were swaying to desi rap, I caught sight of this lady in her late fifties swinging with
groovy vivacity without missing a beat. I have known her well and never would
have I imagined her to let loose like that in a very familiar big crowd. I felt
amazingly good to see her relishing that moment to herself. Maybe a few years
down, she might feel nostalgic about granting herself that “happy high”
carefree evening.
In a lot of communities and families, alcohol
is still a taboo or culturally totally unacceptable. It has a valid reasoning
to be so, yet as a thinking adult I might not want to label it as black as it
is done by some. A few swigs sometime so long as it doesn’t affect your
rational judgement or kill your liver might be alright. But of course I know trying
to set a social limit to it is not only quite naive but also undoable unless
you stick to the medically approved limit. I am not validating this “vice” because
it makes you an unabated dancer, but just that it lets you drop your guard a
bit and shed your hesitation. Not in the wrong sense at all that you get
disrespectful of your family or disregard culture or traditions or cast off
your civility. It just helps you slow down your conscious self, and lets you be
the person you want to be at that moment.
My analogy here might be faulty
but it is something like the Sufi dervishes dancing in trance lost in the music
of their higher energies. Or people fervently dancing at mata ki chowkis or kirtans.
Before you label me sacrilegious or hold me in contempt of religious sentiment,
let me clarify I am not comparing the occasion or the sentiment of two, I am
comparing the similarity of the chemical influx that happens in the mind in
both cases. A devotee loses his self
consciousness naturally in presence of that pure vibe while stimulants help to
reach that subconscious pleasure zone where we wouldn’t naturally reach
otherwise. As I always disclaim, I am not endorsing or promoting any chemical,
organic or alcoholic intake or think it as a positive lifestyle trend. But it’s
my personal belief that it sometimes lets you be or enjoy as a person you would
wish to but wouldn’t dare.
At the same time, I see this
glaring trend all around me viciously confining the definition of fun to nights
of cheering and clinking glasses or rolling joints. There is this growing tribe
who almost cannot believe that people can have fun or good times or memorable
nights or trips without being “high”. And I literally cringe and rebel every time
at such ridiculous opinions. I have enjoyed, laughed, danced and made memorable
nights as much without a pitcher of sangria as much with it and anybody and
everybody else can too. This escalating ubiquity and dependence on stimulants and
making it as much a part of our routine like lunch or dinner is indeed terribly
worrisome. It makes you wonder about the deteriorating mental landscape of our
generation, which is so highly dependent on stimulants to have a good laugh. Only
if we weren’t prone to being carried away into over indulgence and abided by
some drinking discipline and moderation, it would be so much healthier
physically, mentally, socially and culturally.
We are brought up and live in a
society of several norms and restraints. And they are probably needed to avoid
anarchy and instability at large. But a lot of times, we pay the price as
individuals to conform to these obsolete or unneeded norms. Generations before
us, have paid that price more so. But ours and generations after us are more
non-conformists or pragmatists, who are unwilling to accept or follow customs
that need some revision with time. That evening, what those couple of drinks
did to that lady was not made her dance, it let her shed her inhibitions and
find joy in her movement. A dance of sheer pleasure. It’s not that she cannot
step out a few nights for fun; she may well outright buy off a few clubs. But
we are so socially conditioned and chained in our parochial mindsets that a
lady in her late fifties, swaying in a disc with her set of friends seems
almost impalpable as much to her as to others. How many of us can imagine our
parents, no matter how fond they are of dancing on good music upon neon lights
or simply “hanging out”, take a leap into a night club or a disc? Abysmally
few. Not because they didn’t want to but
because they were conditioned to believe that they shouldn’t. The conditioning
is slowly falling apart and I wouldn’t say it’s wrong.
It’s a fairly recent cultural
change to see these bunches of late teenagers, this crowd of early thirties to
early forties and a ghetto of late fifties all under the same roof of any
resto-bars enjoying the same atmosphere but in very different ways. In the larger picture, it is not about
consuming alcohol or being a teetotaller; it is about accepting change with
time and letting it assimilate in our mindsets. Moderation is the key to any sustainable
social fabric; it is only the extremity of any which makes it a vice. A little
bit of discipline can go a long way in creating so much more fun and openness
between generations and social outlook.
I raise a toast to good times
with moderation!! Makes sense, our kids are growing up fast, let’s be open but
better examples to them.
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