|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Monday, 11 November 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Drinkin' n' drivin' 'There's a difference between drinking a few pegs and driving and being so drunk that one cannot even walk properly.' The above was a statement made by the father of a famous actor who smashed into a bakery in the middle of the night, in his fancy car, killed a worker and injured a few others who were sleeping on the pavement. The actor who was arrested was said to have been under the influence of liquor, and his father when contacted vehemently denied that his son was drunk and said that having a few pegs did not mean you were tottering. There was a time when I drank and drove. A time when I had one of the best cars in the city, a car that was fast on the road and safe for the passengers inside, but merciless if it ever had touched anyone outside. I drove after parties at night breaking all speed limits and relishing the prospect of reaching home in the shortest time possible. I enjoyed people talking about my dare devil attitude behind the wheel and thought that it was very macho to do what I was doing. Luckily for me and the others on the road I did not have any major accident other than scaring off all other vehicles who dared cross my path or lane or highway. One day we drove up as a family to a resort in a hill station, where my wife challenged me to a game of table tennis. We played five games and I beat her in all five, and decided to toast my victory by hitting the bar. When you want a drink, you don't need an excuse to celebrate..! I had just finished one beer, when my better half, asked me to play another game. I swaggered to the table, picked up the bat, deftly nudging the ball to her side, even spinning it a little. She smashed, I lunged and the ball, missed my waiting bat. The next shot from her was a simpler one, and I smiled as I aimed the ball to where she could not reach. The thought was good, the plan excellent, but my mind and action seemed at loggerheads with each and I missed again.! I lost all five games. We walked back to my waiting beer, a crestfallen me and a victorious wife. I could imagine being beaten in one game, maybe two, but all five? "Your reflexes were bad," said my wife as I sat at the table. "My reflexes are good," I said nastily. "Not after a drink, they aren't," said my doctor wife. I stared at her, and comprehension came to me. I nodded. What had suffered, and suffered terribly after that one bottle of beer was my ability to respond immediately. I agree with the father of the actor, I agree when he says that having a few pegs doesn't warrant calling a man drunk, but does that father know that if his son hadn't had those few pegs, he would not have swerved his vehicle onto the pavement, that it was the liquor that made him react in an extremely dangerous way that saw a man being killed and others injured? It was a game of table tennis that changed my thinking. I hardly drink nowadays and if perchance I have had one too many, I try to see that the one who bettered me in that game of TT takes the wheel..! |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
