Maradona Good, Pele Better And George Best!!!

Maradona good, Pele Better and GEORGE Best!!!

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First things first. Alcoholism is a serious social threat capable of breaking down individuals and their families. Increase in domestic violence is directly proportional to increase in alcohol abuse says a webpage dwelling on alarming increase of alcohol consumption in India

Action: Display of URL http://www.indianalcoholpolicy.org/enl/at_a_new_high.html

While on the subject, boom in alcohol production often spells doom to the country wrote Honorable Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer (Former Judge of Indian Supreme court) some time back in The Hindu (a leading Indian daily)… in February 2010 to be more precise. You may go through this satirical “masterpiece” by clicking on the following URL…

Action: Display of URL...http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/12/stories/2010011255100900.htm

In this article which was rich in intent and content, this highly esteemed one-time presidential candidate was bemoaning the growth of the “bottle bug” in the south Indian state of Kerala, with the State Government itself being guilty of giving a fillip to an increase in the consumption of intoxicating beverages. Long –time The Hindu readers would vouch for the creativity in this reputed nonagenarian’s writing style and it came to the fore in this article too, without in any diminishing the seriousness of his concerns expressed. Quite logically, this astute judge of human behavior wrote that alcoholism usually takes its addict and his family through four stages…jocose, bellicose, lachrymose and comatose. Does this wordplay “dose” seem too heavy? I’ll explain.

Action: Display of pics of Jocose, Bellicose, Lachrymose and Comatose stages

Jocose stage is one when a few pegs are downed unsuspiciously in innocent fun by an individual, not aware that he is walking straight into anaconda-like coils. Bellicose condition wrought by a few additional glasses is one of false security when muscles are flexed and danger is seemingly looked into the eye.

Scripture: Wine gives false courage; hard liquor leads to brawls; what fools men are to let it master them, making them reel drunkenly down the street!-Pro 20:1-TLB.

Bible students would see such a situation emerging in the following scripture portion- Judges 9:26-29.

Scripture: One day Gaal son of Ebed moved to Shechem with his brothers and gained the confidence of the leading citizens of Shechem. During the annual harvest festival at Shechem, held in the temple of the local god, the wine flowed freely, and everyone began cursing Abimelech. “Who is Abimelech?” Gaal shouted. “He’s not a true son of Shechem,[a] so why should we be his servants? He’s merely the son of Gideon, and this Zebul is merely his deputy. Serve the true sons of Hamor, the founder of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech? If I were in charge here, I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to him, ‘Get some soldiers, and come out and fight!’”

Now imagine a “belligerent” laborer who survives on daily wages entering his house in a bellicose condition. It would lead to objections of his sober wife, heated arguments …wife beating which would lead to a highly avoidable lachrymose condition (that pour soul crying spontaneously putting her lachrymal glands into operation with drunk depredator crying too in tow). Now our drunken friend may momentarily express remorse for the sorry turn of events but COME NEXT EVENING even with his income diminishing, impending domestic brawls, imminent health-deterioration…sip of the amber-colored liquid would be a bit too hard to resist…. the eventual result of it all after some time? A comatose condition. Speaking of comatose condition, forget for a moment the rural folks, are there not many victims of alcohol abuse amongst the urban elite too? George Best, the greatest white footballer for you ladies and gentlemen… in his native Northern Ireland the admiration for him is summed up by the local saying: "Maradona good; Pelé better; GEORGE Best.” For more about this “what might have been” tragic life… of the footballing "Samson"

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Action: Display of pictures of legendary footballers' Maradona, Pele and George Best in action

Oh yes coming back to the Iyer ire on alcoholism…is not the State in a way responsible for alcohol-induced poverty reasoned the seasoned Judge? Finally, he came-up with a punch-line, if he is made the dictator of the country for a limited time, he would introduce prohibition straightaway for that seemed to him the only panacea of all alcohol induced evils. Now is prohibition the only way out to combat this social menace? Yes and no! Again confused? Let me explain…

I remember interacting often with an elderly gent in a STD-telephone booth in mid 1990s’ during my official stint in the city of Vijayawada at that time. Gopal garu (name changed) prima facie was a diligent employee of the owner of that STD booth, at a time State-ordained prohibition of alcohol consumption was being strictly enforced. Those were the days when a pharmacist would give you a queer look if you were to ask him for a bottle of Phensedyl cough syrup. Reason? Now this drug had (still has) high alcohol content! Now coming back to Gopal garu…Boy..he would meticulously maintain the records off all his booth customers, availing the STD facility therein on credit basis. After some time prohibition was lifted, and lo and behold … Gopal garu disappeared. My concerned enquiries with the concerned STD booth owner revealed that his elderly employee -an erstwhile alcoholic who forcibly had to abstain from liquor during the prohibition- had “gone back to wallow in the dirty puddle” (2 Peter 2:22)! Tragically, many of his ilk had also followed suit.