By Malangba Bangormayum
Traffic has become impossible. I could not cross the road. I got down from the bicycle and was waiting for a chance to risk my life crossing the road when this shopkeeper from our locality approached and asked me how I am and where I am these days and other attendant questions. He has somehow lost quite some flab around the waist and I complimented on his having got rid of that. But to my surprise he was not happy about it. He said that it is rather due to some ill-health. I did not venture to ask more. Taking the excuse of the traffic we parted.
He was heavily into booze for quite some time. In the neighbourhood, there was a vendor which he along with his friends used to visit starting from the early hours of the day. The members of the group have passed on to the other shore one by one. He, I think, is the only one remaining on this side of the river. The vendor due to pressures from the local club has closed down. The locality would not hear the vendor`™s plea that she has a daughter who has recently undergone kidney transplantation and she needs the money from the vending.
Whether our shopkeeper has stopped his boozing, or whether he is still continuing, I have no idea. But since the closing of the home vending, I do not see him crossing the street in front of our gate. Before he got hooked to alcohol, he was the model of a hardworking young man. He did well with his shop and his business flourished. That was the story then. The moral of the story now, after he got the taste of alcohol, could be that alcohol ruins you. I wish things were as simple as that.
The Dionysian element has been given due credit since ancient times. Enduring works of humanity are due to discipline, routine, continuity but it would be a blinkered version if we deny the spark that intoxication, enthusiasm endow. And for better or worse humans since antiquity have found the required enthusiasm, the divine inspiration and ecstasy in some substances.
Alcohol, drugs, and such substances are harzardous to health. Yet, they for some people have fuelled creative works. In fact, they give the enthusiasm to write, to create, to churn out new ideas and forms. It gives the courage, the fortitude, energy to bear life`™s tragedies. They are also source for more fun to those who already have enough fun. There is a class of substance that have been termed `nootropics`. They are substances that fire creative neurons, if I may put it that way. One of the most common nootropics is caffeine. Another is nicotine. Too many cups of coffee can have its consequences.
I have had my share of affaisr with nicotine. I started with cigarettes, moved to cowboy rolls and then finally came to khaini. The social and health effects of khaini became all too soon evident. The immediate danger was the threat of a perpetual war in the domestic front. My wife, who used to get me khaini during the dry khaini days before we get married, issued me ultimatum to stop using it the day we got married. I continued using khaini in spite of her diktat. I decided to quit only when my son came along. Easier said than done. It took me three years to quit. I tried, I failed, I tried, I failed and this went on until I somehow got release. It`™s been more than three years since my last dose of khaini. They say, `once an addict always an addict`. I can confidently say that I have no more temptations to use it again but the saying makes me careful not to fool with it in any way.
It would be quite hard to find anyone who does not know of someone under the thraldom of addictive substances. It would be equally hard to find someone who has not lost a dear one to these substances. Alcohol and such other substances ruin lives. Who would argue against that? But I cannot help thinking that it has given us things that we value. If there is any truth to this proposition, then we can wonder if the genius of science could create something that increases one`™s health and wealth while giving spirit to its takers. Here I might add that similar idea had dawned on some friends, who would take salads and such other foods in the morning, along with over the counter liver medications, to prepare for the after-dark binging. This particular implementation of our idea has not worked that well.
I asked my wife whether there could be a substitute for alcohol which gives you spirit but does not jeopardise one`™s health and wealth. `Take morning walks`, she says. Fair enough. Andrew Wiles got the idea to prove Fermat`™s Last Theorem on one of his walks. Though it is not very transparent how walking is related to one`™s wealth, it definitely gives you health. (I cannot help remembering a nursery rhyme at this moment here.) Anyway, the next time I meet the shopkeeper gentleman, I shall advise him to sleep early, rise early and take long morning walks. He shall then be healthy, wealthy and wise.