LORD OF THE DRINKS

• He was writhing, twisting and turning in a corner of a bus stop. He was not a motor accident victim but one who worships Bacchus.
• People were standing unmindful of this specimen tossing and turning, lost in inebriation. The callousness of the people, particularly women who do not take kindly to cigarette smoke and drunkards, was appalling. Some did not even bother to give a second glance or wrinkle their face in contempt.
• Some among us check whether our zip is up or if we have combed our hair properly. And here lies one totally submerged in his own world were there is zero code for behaviour _ actually he was in non-behaviour, all possible voluntary animation suspended.
• One guy drunk as a fiddler was standing in a bus, tossing here and there like a ship caught in a storm. And one man got up and politely asked him to sit! When we don't have the basic humanitarian decency to provide a seat to old people, why this sanctimonious gesture to drunkards?
• I feel the first spirit lover should have been bodily lifted by some like-minded people and safely deposited in an Onyx garbage bin, where he could be left to mull over his bad old ways whenever consciousness returns.
• The second could have been given an unholy exit from the running bus.
• Well, I remember a joke: Once a drunk got into an autorickshaw and wanted to be taken to Central railway station. The driver protested: " We are standing right in front of the Central". Like all souls under the influence of alcohol, this one too was asininely assertive: "Don't I know Central, who are you trying to cheat." Our driver, who belongs to a tribe of people trained in taking people for ride, got into the auto, started the engine, kept it running for a minute and said: "We have arrived." The passenger was happy: "See I know, have not lost my senses to booze". He gave Rs. 20 as fare and waddled away.
• One solitary instance in my life when I really liked the much-despised auto driver. Right way to treat sozzled up souls who are sometimes treated like the Lord descended.