The Temple of Bacchus

My dinner is at the mercy of a restaurant nearby. They make some really tasty food and more over it is cheap! Adjacent to the hotel is a temple of Bacchus, where there is quite a rush in the evening for one cup of nirvana. As I place my order and wait outside for my parcel to arrive, its quite an amusing sight to look at the people who visit the temple. Some people come out of it as if hit by a hurricane and walk away quickly, while a few others put up a nice show outside the shop.

There is an old lady who sits on the pavement outside the store. The first time I gave her some money, she disappeared for a few minutes and I saw her coming out of the temple with a handful of peanuts. She sits there everyday and when she has enough money to buy a drink, she will run inside, have a quick gulp and come back to reclaim her seat. Then there is this ex-military uncle, lean as a lamp post, who still thinks that he is in the service. He comes everyday dressed up in a jeans, formal shirt and a hat. He will quickly have a couple of drinks and then come out to address the gathering. He talks about his good old days in the army and there is a regular audience for his stories. Its quite a sight to watch his animated narration of incidents. But these two are the least colorful characters who come there. There are a bunch of other jokers who create quite a scene after having a few drinks.

While I was walking back home from the Indian Ocean concert last week, I saw this man lying in the middle of the road. It was 1:30 in the morning, there was reasonably good traffic and the vehicles were honking and taking sharp turns to go around him. I initially thought that he was hit by some vehicle but once I got near, realized that he was peacefully drunk. I tried to wake him up and all he would do was raise his head, open his eyes and go back to sleep. I tried telling him that he is right in the middle of the road and some vehicle might run over him, but he was in no mood to listen. I dragged him towards the pavement by the side, and oh boy, he was heavy! He was hopelessly drunk and probably had a fall on his face. There was blood all over his face. I made him sit with his back towards the wall, but he could not even hold himself up. I tried waking him up a few more times, but gave up and left him alone to enjoy his moments of bliss.

Why can't people drink and be a little responsible about what they do afterward? Probably they drink to drown their sorrows or to detach themselves from reality for a few minutes.. but at the cost of making an ass of oneself in public?

Looks like water is the real culprit. Mix it with anything -whiskey, Brandy, Vodka, Rum- and you suddenly start behaving like a retard!