A mindful man shall not derive pleasure from alcohol, this has always guided my code of conduct. Among few things I find myself doing fondness for alcohol has never been one of them. It is not as if i detest alcohol, I mean take alcoholic wine occasionally which is usually at the comfort of my home. Being drunk is one of the consequences of taking alcohol without moderation, too much of anything is always a problem. I have seen giant men become nothing under the influence of alcohol, it makes you wonder if the alcohol they drank was force down their throat, as if they weren't aware of the effect of the alcohol till they lost complete control of their mind and body.
Sadly this is kind of world we live in, a world where mankind tries to escape reality by excessive consumption of alcohol but then the answer we seek is never at the bottom of the bottle, we just end up prolonging the Inevitable. There are others who seek alcohol not for pleasure but to feel among. They say there is always a first time for everything, among the most funny memories of my teenage life that has faded as time passes by, my first time tasting alcohol wasn't one of them, thinking about makes it feel like it was just yesterday.
I have always mentioned the fact that when it comes ranking families with the capabilities of throwing a big party during the festive periods, my family would definitely make top ten. We celebrate it so majestically with our distant relatives being present and also friends. During one of our annual Christmas celebration about 15 years ago I experienced something I have never felt before. I grew up in a Christian home, when it comes to food, everything a child could wish for was present at home. The only thing absent in our household was alcohol, so I grew up without any experience of alcohol at all and what made it worse was the fact that I also attended a boarding school which lasted for about 6 years.
So there was never a time when I could be curious about what a bottle of alcohol would taste like, I mean I could only be curious about the things I see and alcoholic drinks isn't one of them, it wasn't present at home or in boarding school. They say change is constant, which also applies to my home. A distant a relative of ours always visits every Christmas, she is my mom elder sister. She and her family stays in Abuja due to the nature of her husband's work. She comes along with her two daughters, who I consider to be party demons. I mean compared to I and my brother that attended boarding school they didn't. So they were quite experience in some things than we were and one of those things is taking alcohol.
During the festive party we children usual gather ourselves at one side and let adults do their thing. While everything was bubbling and all, one of the girls brought out a drink that looks quite unusual. It was in a bottle and it was Boldly written on it "Calypso"*, it was in a white bottle. Normally I wasn't the type to try out things I don't know because I'm always curious and scared of the unknown. Judging from the fact that the girls decided to take a shot from the drink, my manly ego kicked in and I felt like why would a girl take something and I wouldn't be able to. The most annoying part was that I was a year older than the eldest among my two female cousins, which means the younger one is a lot younger than I'm.
I picked up a cup, pour it in and took a sip. The taste was unusual but it wasn't bad at all and that is the funny thing about calypso wine. It is whitish and has this flavour taste, it doesn't really taste like alcohol, they say what doesn't kill you make you stronger, well I was just about to find out. As the party continues I kept on sipping my alcoholic wine and gradually everything started feeling differently. It felt like everything around me was moving slowly, like I was in a time loop. Trying to find meaning to what was going on, I stood up and tried to move my feet but it felt so heavy but I moved it anyway. I found my way into the bathroom, watched my face and went back to the party.
I was still feeling tipsy, my body was reacting to the effect of the alcohol but my mind was completely active. I couldn't control my body fully but since my mind was still intact I was able to control my actions which is a lot better than what the other kids where experiencing. It was as if they were possessed by a chicken spirit because they kept flying up and down in an irrational manner. I knew if I stood there a lot longer I might get possessed too so I decided to go to my room and lay down for awhile, that was how I slept from few minutes past 8pm till noon the next day.
When I woke up the next day looked around, most of the kids have already gone home but I found my cousins. Immediately they saw me they could not stop laughing and it was obvious that I have did something funny last night. It turns out that all those times I was walking through the crowd in search of the bathroom I was walking like I was dancing and also I never found the bathroom, so I went into the kitchen and watched my face in the dish washer. Thankfully I wasn't the only one that acted funny that night, compared to what other kids did, I was just grateful.
As funny as it was, it was the first and only time I lost complete control of my body. For someone like me who is always mindful of my actions, I realised how little the control I thought I had was. Being reckless has never been my thing but after that experience I said to myself, alcohol is definitely not for you and never will I want to experience losing control of myself ever again. Well I did take alcoholic wine again but this time I was aware of what it was and controlled the quantity I drank.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "In a drunken state" in hive learners community.
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