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Here's to Alcohol

The cause of...and solution to all of life's problems.

One would know a typical alcoholic as someone who aimlessly roams the streets after a night out at the bar. Ever heard of a drunkard who gives away free advice, gets philosophical whenever possible and can speaks the Kannada language fluently even after gulping down about 10 quarters.

One such drunkard is the one who roams the streets of RR.Nagar every night. He's basically a drunkard cum beggar. He has this unique style of begging. He doesn't say the usual "Amma-thayi" slogan. He only asks for food from a typical kannadigan family. But there's nothing typical about this drunkard. Unlike others, he doesn't talk non-sense, he doesn't wobble when he walks and he is unfaithful to his wife. He speaks passionately about the Kannada language and the importance of speaking in our mother tongue.The things he says will make you want to ponder upon them. Personally, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction that there's someone out there who is a lot crazier than I am and is doing a lot worse in life than me. He's an amazing orator. He makes it a point to pick a new topic to speak on everyday. Every night he walks by street, I drop whatever it is that I am doing and keenly listen to him.

The very first time that I heard him, I thought he talking over the phone. When I peeked through my window (after a lot of apprehension)to my surprise I found that he was in fact talking to himself. He was all alone. Then he starting calling out to all the Kannadigas in the neighbourhood and requested them to quench the thirst of a fellow Kannadiga. That's when Bruno started barking uncontrollably. The drunkard had no other choice but to leave.

Once, he had even brought his drunk friend along with him from the bar. He was explaining to him about the importance of family. He said that, no matter how much you drink, you should never cheat on your wife, you shall never be harsh on your children. This man must be one of those art of living Swamijis who just got bored of it so he just decided to get high.

Recently he spoke about Dr. Raj Kumar. And how he left his family all alone and went holidaying to Heaven. Lol. He was saying that he's a lot better as the son of the of Karnataka than Raj Kumar ever was. And that he would never let death keep him from loving and respecting his motherland, and supporting his family. For the very first time he said his name out loud. His exact words words were "You have Ram.Kumar's word that I shall always remain this land's son."

Now as these streets have become familiar to Ram.Kumar, and Ram.Kumar has become familiar to Bruno.
This would have to one of the most unusual things that I have witnessed and as a to-be-psychiatrist I am much interested to know what compelled Ram.Kumar to become a drunkard, what kind of psychological disorder does he have and how the hell does he talk so fluently in Kannada!

Revertigo

It often happens that in the hurry the to grow up, we fail to cherish to cherish the childhood memories, not caring to look back into the past and ponder over your used-to-be innocent, care-free self.

I recently visited my old school Cluny Convent High School. It had been exactly 10 years since I had gone there. I was at Smoka's place and she had to go there to get her study certificate. The moment we entered the gate, those old feelings came back to me. When we were walking past the slide, I felt this urge to just go for it, then and there. And that's exactly what I did. It was an amazing feeling. I felt like I was actually back at this school, having fun, not having to care about the pressure of studies, board exams, career decisions.Nothing! I felt like a kid again. I could have fun again.

I wanted to check out the whole place and find out how much the it had been changed since I had been gone. Smoka was at the office, realising that I would probably get bored at the office I decided to go explore the place. I wandered off to the 2nd floor, looking into the classrooms and clicking random pictures on my cell. Just then Smoka called me and asked "!@#$%^ where are you? We're leaving now! Come down!". WTF? It had barely been 10 minutes since we went there and we were leaving already? Smoka's parents had some work , so we had to leave. After what seemed like an eternity of begging they finally let us stay back in school and they said that they would come to pick us up later. That made us jump with joy.

That day, Smoka and I, explored every nook and corner of our former school. For her it had been the only school she had studied in. She had studied in CCHS for 12 whole years. There has got to be some kind of award for that!
We started with the school auditorium. While I was walking past the corridors, I remembered the time when I had got punished by the Head Girl for running around in that same corridor. From there I went up on stage. Looking at the empty auditorium, the memories of the Fancy Dress Competition came back to me. I had forgotten my lines due to stage fright and stood on stage blankly for like an hour. The auditorium now looked a lot smaller than I remembered. Was it because it was empty or because I had grown?

Next we went exploring about the classrooms. I found my 1st class room, which now had been converted into a store room! And I also found out that the green gate wasn't green any more. It had been painted white and blue, cause apparently those were the school colours. And the little 'chapel' that used to be there had become some kind of office. I so badly wanted to go to the Jubilee Hall but the doors were all locked. So, we just spent some time under the always-talked-about blue shade.

After clicking about a hundred pics of every corner of the school (including the 2nd floor loo, which BTW is filled with pigeon poo) we decided to leave but before that we left a nasty little, sarcastic message on the notice board.

Even though I had spent only 4 years of my life in CCHS, and I hadn't looked back at it that many times, I experienced my revertigo when I went there. My innocence, clarity of my thoughts and my care-free attitude was worth cherishing.

In the mind of a 12th grader




Things to do today:
1.Get up
2.Survive
3.Go back to bed.
 
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