Whenever I think of de-addicting from Alcohol, my evil inner self tells me to stop boozing from next year. I am 24. Boozing from 11 years now. Lever is OK. Just got it checked last month during annual health check up.

Why Boozing ? How did I learn it ? Was it necessary ? Does all people like me do it at such alarming frequency ? Whats so bad about it ? These are the questions I will like to ponder over today ?

I had my first sip of anything called alcohol in my friends home. It was christmas & he had invited us all to his home. I was 10 then. A small cup of wine ( 14 day brew wine) was given on to taste. Quantity must be 30 ml. This was the first taste. It felt good. It was sweet & the aroma in the mouth was good. color was just sunrise.

There we saw elders having wine but of different color. We asked for it & was promptly denied.
This denial must be the reason what fascinated me. Next week, when we friends were discussing on this point, I thought that I should try this thing called alcohol.At age 10, I had no guts to go to bar & get a drink myself. So the idea just stayed in mind.

After the 7th Standard exams, All our friends had left for the summer vacations to their native places.I was left here because this itself is my & my families native place. I was growing up physically because of hormones & so thought this must be the right time to grow mentally too.

After taking 50 rupees from my savings piggy bank, I went out. I walked for 6 kilometres towards the countryside. My mind was pondering on the positives & negetives of this great (mis) adventure that I was taking up. Finally I found a small wine shop near the edge of a village. There were not many people near the bar & definitely no one I or my family knew. Walked in at a lazy pace. I had to act I was strong & old. Otherwise there was the possibility of the barwala to send me back because of my age. Now the real problem for me started. I knew nothing about the drinks. After that wine drinking, I had come to know that there are some other things called Beer, Whisky, Rum, Arrack, Gin etc. But I did not know their brand names.
I was clueless in front of the counter. An other older person came there and asked for "Old Monk". I saw him paying 30 rupees & getting a small bottle & some change back. Then when the barwala asked me what I wanted, I told him the same thing but in a harsh tone.

This harsh tone was used because I felt all elders who drink always use harsh tone. The counter fellow gave me the bottle & I paid for it. The cost was 26 rupees. Now my worry was where to drink this ? So I went climbing a nearby hill where I knew there will be less people. Just imagine the scene. A 13 year boy with a small alcohol bottle in one hand climbing a hill.

Then after finding a strategic place between two rocks from where I can see all the below areas but finding me is a difficult thing, I opened my bottle. With the confidence of drinking wine before, I took a sip from the bottle. The sensation in my mouth is something of pain, stupidity & burning everywhere, as this fluid passed thru my throat. Man, How do these people drink this thing ?

I was left with no other option but to throw the bootle away wilth all contents in it and move back to home after accompanishing this great adventure.

The smell coming out of my mouth was yuck man!!. WTF !!! This was something I wanted to do. and here I am after doing this great endeover.

Later after my friends came back & when we were discussing our adventures of summer vacation, I told them about this story. They were laughing about my planning.

They explained the intricacies of boozing that

1.> If the booze has to be taken, it should not be taken raw.
2.> Water or soft drinks has to be mixed to it.
3.> Some numkeen(salty & peppery) stuff has to be taken along to keep our tongue clean & receptive for next sip.
4.> That bottle which I purchased contained "Rum".
5.> Rum was intially given to Horses to make them work harder. Later humans also started taking it.
6.> The brand "OLD MONK" is a world famous brand in India & the taste is very good.

After hearing this I felt enlightened about Boozing.

The next attempt will be posted later.