Dipso!

We're having a class reunion. Another one. For this one, most of the interest is on the booze and how sloshed everyone's going to get. I couldn't help thinking back to the first time I had a drink, which was also the first time I got sloshed.

It was the night before my sister's wedding. A whole bunch of her friends were down and since one of the houses my father gave out on rent was empty, that's where they stayed and that's where 'the' party happened. The house was empty except for a fridge :-) and a lot of mattresses on the ground. The fridge wasn't empty; it was filled with bottles of different sizes, shapes and colours. Those were the days when Coke was banned and Pepsi hadn't even been seen in India. So it was Thums Up and Limca and some orange thing which I've forgotten the name. There were people sprawled on the mattresses, there were people holding forth on a lot of things, there were people singing, dancing and of course, people drinking. I was drinking Thums Up or so I thought. Turned out it was Rums Up. Since the next bottle I picked up had 'Ginca' and since I had never had a drink till then, I must have been already flying. That's when I decided it was time I had a real drink. So I talked one of my sister's friends into opening a bottle of beer for me - I drank it, but thought it tasted vile, so I returned to downing bottle after bottle of Thums Up.

Somewhere close to midnight, it dawned on my brother that his younger sister was spouting off about the stars and re-birth and being totally incomprehensible, so he took a closer look and realised that he had one very very drunk teenager on his hands. I don't remember the conversation that followed, but I do remember that between my favourite cuz and him they managed to convince me to go back home. They had plans of sneaking me home through the side door, but what with the wedding and having ornaments and silks at home my father had checked and bolted every door. Nothing else to do, so they woke him up, and my brother chatted to him while my cuz dragged me up the stairs and dumped me in my room with strict instructions to 'go stick your head under the shower'. When I came out all wet, bedraggled and miserable, it was to find my brother waiting with a cup of coffee; which I refused to drink. He spent a long time coaxing me to drink it.

The next morning I had the headache the size of our house. And I couldn't even be miserable in peace. I was the bridesmaid and had to wear a heavy silk saree, have make up on my face, wear high heels and smile, smile, smile. Boy, talk about an initiation!!

It didn't put me off alcohol, not by a long shot, but it did make me a sensible drinker - most of the time, anyway:)