On Vox: Friday evening . . .
. . . is the time to 'assuage tiredness'. That phrase is the family lingo meaning 'consuming moderate amounts of alcoholic beverages to unwind after week-long hard work'. Actually, the euphemism was 'invented' by yours truly, a few months ago, in conversation with pop-in-law. It was then rapidly adopted by the trio of pop-in-law, pop et moi. But the rest of the family soon caught on.
When the beverage in question is not Scotch, sis sometimes joins in. It is good to sit with the family in the 'hall', sipping cool drinks and chit-chatting while the idiot box blares benignly in the back-ground.
So, I do most of my 'drinking' at home with my family, instead of at pubs, bars and hotels with friends and colleagues - which most of my friends and colleagues find a bit surprising. Perhaps it is tad surprising. In pre-dominantly Hindu India, 'drinking' and 'eating meat' have associations of being 'sinful' or unclean habits. When I was at college, most kids drank alcoholic beverages on the sly with friends outside without knowledge of their parents - as if it was something that needed to be concealed. I suppose this fits a world-wide pattern; consumption of alcohol by quantity (not by volume) is very high (highest if I remember correctly) amongst young males in the 18 to 25 year age group. However since the legal age for alcohol consumption in many countries is 21 years, a whole lot of people in the age-group mentioned would need to conceal either their age, or the fact that they consume alcohol, or both. I would however suppose that many countries would also allow some consumption of alcohol at younger ages under 'parental supervision' - though I am not sure if this is codified in the law; at least have never come across instances of legal action being initiated against parents for allowing their wards to consume alcohol; unless it was accompanied by other more drastic forms of substance abuse or other illegal activities.
I suppose at some levels, the very 'thrill' of consuming alcohol when one is 'not supposed to' makes it very appealing. Also the fact that it tends to be some sort of a rite of passage initiating the 'young-adult' into adulthood. And the competitive mindset around bragging about ones daring in consuming alcohol at an early age, coupled with the pride many seem to take in being able to consume large quantities of alcohol without getting inebriated
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Originally posted on artharaja.vox.com