Alcohol's unholy alliance with man:

Stemming the modern world's scourge

by Siripathy Jayamaha

From time immemorial, alcohol has had an unholy alliance with man. It has been the precursor of temporary elation and permanent doom in the life of an alcoholic. Ancient and modern history has shown us how kingdoms toppled, bizarre crimes committed, wars fought, women and children abused and families torn asunder because of alcohol.

It is on record, that Philip of Macedonia, the charismatic leader, conqueror and father of Alexander the Great could not walk from one table to another. Alcohol had conquered the conqueror.

The Buddha cautioned us on the indulgence of alcohol. More than 2,600 years after the passing away of the Buddha two millennia after Jesus Christ and 1,500 years after Prophet Mohammed, man is still a slave to alcohol.

Absolute or 100 percent alcohol is used in modern medicine and also as a solvent.

It is used in cosmetics, colognes and perfumes. It is indeed tragic that this very same compound which has helped man in the healing and beautifying process is also responsible in dragging him to the lowest depths of misery and death.

Discovery

To the ancient man, alcohol was a pleasant discovery. Fermentation of fruit gave him alcohol. But with time, man burnt the midnight oil in trying to bequeath to his fellow men alcohol in diverse forms.

It has reached the palate of humans in many forms. Beer, brewed from the malt of barley and oats, has an alcohol percentage of 3-5 percent. Now it is 14 percent for strong beer. Toddy, the fermented sap of the palm, five percent wines 7.50 percent, gin 31 percent, champagne 11 percent whisky 44-55 percent, arrack 65.75 percent, Vodka around 50 percent and motai the liquor taken in tiny glasses at banquets hosted by the Chinese has a very high percentage of alcohol.

Then comes our very own kasippu. The illicit brew obtained from a witches’ brew concoction of ferment, rotten fruit and toddy that gives an instant kick with little more than 90 percent alcohol percentage.

Drinking can be categorised into social and habitual. The former is drinking for pleasure. This type of drinking has encroached into all forms of social activities - weddings and parties. The light social drinker then becomes a heavy social drinker. Finally he becomes an alcoholic.

Bacchus

The Greeks had a god for alcohol Bacchus. Social drinkers could control their drinking. Alcohol controls the alcoholic. Once when one passes the threshold of alcoholism, he begins to think that alcohol has come to guide him through the travails of life. Shall we as laymen share with each other how alcohol help a gentle human being to be an abnormal monster.

Every part of the body absorbs alcohol very fast. Alcohol used as a mouthwash stops a toothache. It is a temporary remedy. It deadens the nerves and constricts the blood capillaries. Imagine it in the stomach. One drop of alcohol in 1,000 drops of water could make an unicellular amoeba to shrivel up and die. The life giving protoplasm is destroyed. Imagine once again what it could do to the millions of cells that go to make nature's most consummate of beings. The body goes berserk. Alcohol damages the liver and people die of cirrhosis of the liver.

Our life-giving oxygen in the blood is used up in fighting alcohol. It causes untold damage to the brain and kidneys. Every vital part of our body loses its supply of oxygen. The world has seen the doings of alcoholics. Men of stature suddenly become a caricature of a fallen man of stature. The brain is the most important organ in the human body. Alcohol begins to destroy man's citadel which makes him to understand, think, act and live.

Brain

The brain controls the blood circulation, breathing, digestion and self-control. Alcohol controls the alcoholic. A person becomes intoxicated when there is 0.1 percent alcohol in the blood stream. When it reaches 0.5 percent he passes out. It is nature's way of arresting further drinking.

Alcoholism is a personality problem. A person with lots of self control could be a heavy drinker but never an alcoholic. When man gets intoxicated, he is an alcoholic. He begins to lose his masculinity and virility. He tries to or feels that he is a real super star.

In women alcoholics, the menstrual cycle gets affected. Abortions, still birth, pre-natal and ante-natal deaths occur. Excessive drinking causes the tiny foetus to take in the devil drink through the umbilical chord.

An alcoholic never likes to leave a half-empty bottle on the table when others are about to leave. “Just a second,” he says “let me, empty the bottle”, is the jargon of the greedy alcoholic.

Sober

The alcoholic thinks that he is a very sober person. He takes more alcohol to steady himself. It is in a vicious circle. He likes to be the live-wire of the party. Actions and talk make him a bore. Then the bore becomes a wild boar. He will bring back happenings of the past into the gathering. Arguments will follow ending in squabbles. There is another category. The quiet type, who imbibes in litres of high octane stuff. He moves into a corner, falls asleep, at times in a puddle of his own vomit and urine. There is another type. The super star non-stop dancer and singer. His antics may border on thinking that he is a Don Juan or a Casanova.

The brain that makes a man a gentleman has now gone berserk. Hunger, sex and the urge to empty his bladder makes him an alien in society. He becomes a glutton.

He makes all the sounds looked down up on by table etiquette.

The plate becomes a dustbin. At times, pieces of chicken and curry leaves will start to fly around like flying saucers. Dress and surroundings will be strewn with rice and unpalatable food items.

A very empathetic organisation - Alcoholics Anonymous - has helped many to turn away from alcohol. Members had been alcoholics, now turned sober. They mix empathy, sympathy and understanding in bringing an alcoholic into his former self.