So clearly, I wasn’t able to keep my pledge, as evident from some of my updates here. But was it a success? Of course it bloody was!

Three weeks have gone by so far, and even though I broke my pledge three times during these past three weeks, that’s far better than any other months when I would be drinking almost every day. Going cold turkey on alcohol is tough, and this pledge has indeed helped me a lot. The last time I drank just three times during an entire month…. must have been long before I joined college 10+ years ago!

One more week left… if I can keep this up… next month would be a breather.

Maybe next month…. I can do this whole pledge thing again….

Smirnoff
Triple distilled
swaying slowly…
from the brim of my glass to the tip of my tongue;
like a ship on a stormy night
shattering every piece on the rocky shores of guilt.

Pledge
broken again,
falling a victim
this time not to weakness
but to sacrifice rather, for people dear -
one must finish other's leftover vodka
lest it gets spoilt and poisons them tomorrow.

Ah… other than that tiny blot last Saturday, it still feels good to be keeping the pledge…

I kinda miss the nights I would approach an auto driver and tell him my address – Jogeshhwayee Eeeshh (Jogeswari East).

But I think the best drunken slur I’ve heard is from Southpark (season 9, episode 14) when a drunken Randy gets pulled over by a cop, and he’s trying his best to act sober, so he asks the cop innocently –

What seems to be the officer, problem?

Hilarious! :D

And so… I broke my pledge this weekend…

But hey, it wasn’t one of those, “I. Must. Drink. Alcohol.” incident.

When I first took this pledge, I knew there would be obstacles. Challenges. Roadblocks. Tempatations. I was ready to face the temptations part. Like I said before, I took this pledge not for any moral reasons, but purely because of my health. Deep down inside, I knew I could resist the urge to drink.

Office parties – I avoided them. Friday night hangouts with regular friends – I avoided them. In order to keep my pledge, I knew I had to become some sort of a social pariah. Because all those events eventually lead to drinking.

Saturday, I was supposed to go to my “ahemz” place. Being with her gives me more strength not to drink.

However, due to the stupid monsoon, it poured the whole freaking day, and most of the roads were flooded. And so I decided to stay at home, alone.

And then around 9pm, I got a call from an old friend – a house warming party, just walking distance from my house! It was like a B-School reunion, meeting up with long lost friends and being in the company of grads from IIMB and IIMK. It was really tough to say no to that… Plus it could be important for my career as it was like a premium kind of networking.

And so I went there… and of course the inevitable happened… Old Monk.

Am I feeling ashamed for breaking my pledge? Well… not so much. I feel sad of course, but the event I went to was really a once-in-a-lifetime type of celebration, and it would have been a great loss for me had I not gone there.

And this incident does not mean I keep breaking my pledge. No, nothing has changed. I will continue keeping this pledge and act like this weekend never happened.

I just want to be honest, that’s all.

So my Creative Director asked me if I am still keeping the June Pledge, and I said yes.

And then he said, "Good! So... you must be saving quite a lot then!" That's when it suddenly struck me - Yes, I will indeed be saving quite a lot of money if I go without alcohol this entire month! lolz.

Yeah, it’s Monday! And I’m still clean!

I may have gone without booze from Monday to Thursday before, but frankly speaking, I clearly don’t remember when was the last time I DIDN’T drink during the weekends (Friday night, Saturday night and sometimes Sunday night).

Weekends were always the time to relax, unwind and open a bottle of Old Monk. Plus there was always an EPL football match going on. How could one not drink while watching your favorite team in action? :D

Fortunately for me, the EPL season is over and there is no football this month. And it’s hard to picture myself drinking while watching the French Open. Haha.

So this weekend, I bought a whole bunch of non alcoholic drinks like two cartons of Tropicana, Tang (powder) and this absolutely amazing new drink called RIO.

I really got to love this Rio. Cheap (20 bucks) and yet the bottling is quite exquisite. It comes in different flavors and they aren’t like your typical flavored drink. In fact, they are like the teetotaler’s version of a Bacardi breezer! :)

So how did it feel like to go through my first weekend (after ages) without any alcohol? All I can say is, it felt WONDERFUL! The past one week since I started my June Pledge, I had been dreading the weekend... but trust me, with a little bit of determination, it wasn't difficult at all.

But this next upcoming weekend... well... that is a whole new Mount Everest...

Its past 4:30am now. Just reached home from the dinner event I mentioned in my previous post. Ah, what a memorable night.

We talked about everything related to food, catering, restaurant business etc. till 4 in the morning. I learnt a lot about the food industry because of the other guests.

As for me, had I come home at 4am in the morning on any other time (especially saturday mornings), I would have already been really sloshed. It is different this time. Ginger ale does not give you a kick. lolz.

KC (owner of Cafe Goa) even left behind a full bottle of Whyte & Mackay whisky after having just two drinks from it. Pawan looked at me and asked if I want it. Dayyymmmm.... but then, with a heavy heart but a strong conscience, I said no.

Right now I am tired, but it sure feels good to come home from a "party" this late, completely sober! Now, time for some sleep :)

Im currently at a private dinner party hosted by Coral. Its at Prahlad Kakkar's Bandra cottage, to be precise. Around ten people are invited, most of them renowned foodies. Strangers to me but Im slowly starting to get to know them. Entry is 800 bucks per head.

I wouldnt have gone had it not been for my friend Pawan who insisted on my coming, and the menu is PORK - coorgi pandi curry. Who can say no to that? Its delicioussssss!

Lots of free wine, but I am still sticking to my June Pledge so Im drinking ginger ale! Lolz. I have never spent a Friday evening like this before :)

I am attaching a pic of some of the food served... the pork has been deep fried really well and I am now going to get back to my food now. Hope the pic shows properly.

Ok posterous is known for its ease of posting from different sources like email, twitter etc. so I'm just checking it out.

I have just downloaded the posterous app for android to make it easier for me to post here everyday from anywhere. I have also downloaded an app called superious which is another popular posterous app.

Also, lemme test the pic posting option in this same post..

This morning I wrote about the new Maharashtra law that raised the legal drinking age from 21 to 25. IBN Live wrote a pretty good report about this law where they compared the legal age limit of not only different countries but different states of India as well.

And of course, Mizoram had to be mentioned because it is one of the only two states in India where Total Prohibition is enforced.

The entire news report was researched quite well, until I reached the last sentence of the article. IBN Live ended the article with this line –

Underage drinking is a big problem in the US and on the streets of Aizawl, the capital of the Indian state of Mizoram where liquor is prohibited, you barely meet a person who is not drunk after 7 pm.

I immediately commented –

Good article, but your last paragraph reeks much of sensationalism. Yup, underage drinking, or any age drinking for that matter, is quite a problem in Mizoram. But to say that you barely meet a person on the streets who is not drunk after 7 pm is a GROSS exaggeration!!! Has the writer of this article even been to Aizawl??? I would wager anything to walk with the author on the streets of Aizawl and count how many drunk and sober people we will meet.

Did they publish my comment? Nope. As of now, it still hasn’t appeared on their site. But they DID change the last sentence a few minutes ago -

…on the streets of Aizawl, the capital of the Indian state of Mizoram where liquor is prohibited, you come across quite a few tipplers after 7 pm.

Ok, now THAT, I cannot argue with. That is a safe sentence to use. I may not be a journalist, but being a copywriter, we must always word our sentences carefully when writing for the masses. Whether they approve my comment or not, I’m glad they have rectified their tone. I hope CNN IBN doesn’t become like the Times Of India, whose only job it seems, is to print false news and allegations about the Mizos or Mizoram.

Looking back at this incident, I can’t help but think – the author most probably has never been to Aizawl to say something as ridiculous as that…. so… were we stereotyped? Because, yeah, many of us Mizos staying outside Mizoram do love our alcohol. If it’s a case of stereotyping, then that gives me one more reason to continue with my June Pledge and abstain from alcohol, so that we can prove all these idiots wrong!

Go June Pledge! :)