S VARAH
‘He who drinks gets drunk; he who gets drunk goes to sleep; he who goes to sleep does not commit sin.’ Living without sinning is good. Starting with this ideal may not be the best idea of living a quality life, anyway.
Many friends read the Bible. Not only swallowing ravenously the living words of God, they are so fond of going through over again what uncle Paul had to say to his young co-worker Timothy: “Take little wine” in case of gastro-intestinal upset, etc. Some perpetual drinkers read this verse regularly---- of course, not of fellowship with God but Paul’s agreement with wine. Reading the Bible without the knowledge of time, situation and what the writer actually focuses on, generates and often works up frenzy between belief and opinion. Wedding at Ghana and water-turned wine is one such area of debate.
Naga sanctimonious claim of being ‘dry state’ is one; fighting a terrible hang=over every morning until one pours down substantial amount of fire to get ourselves stabilize and calm the system is another big issue. The fight between atrocious hang-over and the will to wrestle against it is always fierce and defining. Many get knocked out here at round one. Going inside the bottle is easy in the first place; to manipulate and get out of the narrow neck is damn difficult.
Prohibition or ban on wine/alcohol or strong drink or mild drink with the exemption of indigenous zu involves both wisdom as well as foolishness in our case. Naga homes without drunkenness or without stupefying substances or drugs would have been a wonderful place. And that is a wise idea to dream about. Imposing ban or prohibiting without achieving result is stupid, nevertheless. Our fond hope to do away evils drinking causes or always associates with: brokenness, premature death, wife-husband infidelity, crimes of variable magnitude, etc, etc, are on the up; that fond hope still remains remote from materializing. What has been left out or talked out to make our home alcohol free is our decision making or the capacity to reasoning.
Is not our life the total sum of individuals’ choice or decision we make? Does not his/her matter of choice make humans different from other animals? State law making, our church abhorrence against drinking and our organizations supporting ban on alcohol can achieve one common deficit: punishing the victims of alcohol and its abuse. It feels nice to imagine white=washing Nagaland without thinking about cleansing dirty elements inside.
If religion is practiced or, if Christianity is lived by living human person, why not begin from the family unit where the life of the father and the mother is best carbon copied and the society as its reflection? All the bad things I have done are outcomes of my wrong decision. Life bad or good is made by choice. Its growth to the maximum and as is purposed falls under God’s department; ours is being fair with our conscience and without pricking our common sense by deliberate indulgence. It’s just one way to be true to ourselves, to be free from being blasphemous as professed Christians.
To drink, to smoke, to do drugs or to surrender to our lower passion or carnal nature is very personal with accountability to God. You may pour fire and fry your liver and your complicated system without drinking to harm others. You may burn without smoking cigarette to cause danger by your second hand smoke which is more harmful to your non-smoking neighbours. The state and its citizens can make laws without invading individuals’ liberty if, even a church worker, using different brand of drinks inside his/her own closet, without other people knowing him/her and yet support prohibition.
The vying between choice and law may continue till the last round and without knock out! We had rather believe in our determined will blended with His promise of new lease and our surroundings accepting us as we are. More than two decades of experiment is long window-dressing without drying.
