FROM THE HEART OF AURRSA: MADNESS FOR MADEIRA

An Article I wrote a couple of years ago for my column in middles which never got published.

MADNESS FOR MADEIRA

‘45% Goans Alcoholics’ screamed the front-page of my newspaper. Well, what’s wrong with that? It’s our traditional social habit, for crying out aloud! “I can drive after a round of stiff pegs; I don’t fall all over the place.” the Goan alpha male cries out as he thumps his torso.

In this great state of Goa, feni and whiskey besides wino are the favoured, flavoured social drinks at most parties. You enter a wedding hall and, there standing at the entrance, is a well-groomed waiter with a tray of wine, poured into tiny goblets. ‘To toast the bridal couple’ he says, as he offers you the first of his array of temptations. Once the speeches are over and the snacks do the rounds, the emcee announces the much- awaited four words, “The bar is open” and suddenly there is an almighty rush for the elixir of life.

Veterans coax the uninitiated with a diluted version of their ‘neat’ pegs, the old-fashioned matriarch is brought her glass of shandy. Pretty soon the merry-making reaches high crescendo, with the groom’s father raucously singing off-key, accompanied by his sozzled brother, who finding every dish on the menu unappetizing, tells his wife so in a loud voice, coloured by expressive expletives. And a middle-aged man suddenly becomes boneless on the dance floor.

Alcohol is a great leveler- it makes fools of us all, whether one is a prince or a pauper. The rich can afford champagne, the poor stick to the local hooch. But in the end, both stagger, bluster and wake up with a hangover that only a fresh round of drinks can assuage. That’s when the social drinker turns into an addict.

Let me tell you what alcohol can do to you. Alcohol can cause social effects and health effects (both physical and mental). Intoxication is strongly linked to accidents, injuries, deaths, domestic conflict and violence. Alcohol consumption, particularly heavy drinking occasions, can contribute to high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, and strokes. Alcohol is the main cause of liver cirrhosis. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause spontaneous abortion, slower fetal growth in the womb, premature birth and low birth weight, besides birth defects and mental retardation.

Low to moderate alcohol consumption appears to be more protective when consumption is predominantly with meals. This may be due to the reduction in blood pressure that follows eating, a beneficial effect on clotting, slower absorption of alcohol or faster elimination of alcohol. In contrast, irregular heavy drinking occasions, such as consumption of more than 8 drinks in one sitting, have an adverse effect on coronary heart disease and are linked to sudden deaths from heart attack.

There is sufficient evidence to assume that alcohol plays a role in causing depression. Alcohol dependence and major depression occur together, both within short time periods, such as a year, and over a lifetime. Effects of alcohol on the brain can reduce the anxiety about the consequences of one’s actions. They also impair thinking and problem solving ability in situations of conflict and result in overly emotional responses. Other effects of alcohol on behaviour include a resolute focus on the present (alcohol myopia) and a need to affirm personal power, at least for men.