Goodbye

Well I just wanted to say that,well, I'm not going to write again. I had been writing in the hope that it would help someone, but now I don't think it will. People need a stronger reason to give up alcohol than the misfortunes of some unknown person in some remote corner of the planet. So I am going to make this my last blog.

Before I go, I would like to share one more story with you-it's about two kids I know. Their parents were friends of my parents, and the father was in the same college as my father. We lived in the same town, so we had practically grown up together-the two kids and me and my sister. Well, their father was an alcoholic. The reason he started on alcohol, from what I heard, was that his career was not doing well. So he started drinking and his career slipped further, and then he drank even more.

I remember, once when we were visiting them, the parents went to one room and sent all us kids out to play in the courtyard. Then the younger one told us,"Papa daaru pi rahe hain(father is drinking)". Imagine hearing that from a kid. He must have been, what, six years at most?

Well, the father gave up drinking after some time, due to the continued efforts of his family and friends, but he had a relapse some years later, and he shot himself. I met this same kid again some time ago(I don't live in town anymore). Guys I can't describe the expression on his face to you-there was pain, sorrow, suffering written all over it. Suffering, that could have been avoided. I wish I could've said something to help him, anything at all, but I didn't have anything to say. He was eighteen years old then, four years younger than me, and he had already seen more of life and known more sorrow than any of us.

This blog is dedicated to him and kids like him all over the world, but specially to him. I hope he finds peace in life.

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness

If you have a drinking, smoking or drugs problem, please ask for help- from your family, friends, teachers, anyone. It is not a sign of weakness, asking for help. Instead, it shows how strong you really are from inside. It takes a brave man(or woman) to seek support.

You can find the locations for AA meetings here:

http://www.aagsoindia.org/location.htm

Alternatively, you can call one of these helplines:

• National Addiction Research Centre (NARC), Mumbai
  (022) 65834605
  
  
• T.T. Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation (TTK Hospital), Chennai
  (044) 24918461 / 2948
  
  
• NIMHANS De-Addiction Centre, Bangalore
  (080) 26995360
  
  
• Hope Trust, Hyderabad
  (040) 23396339 / 23327973
  
  
• National Institute of Behavioural Sciences (NIBS), Kolkata
  (033) 22469662 / 22865203
  
  
• AIIMS De-Addiction Centre, Gurgaon
  (0124) 2788974 / 8

Or, check out these sites. These also have a lot of information:

• http://www.muktangan.org/links.html
  
  
• http://www.gatewayforindia.com/medical/health/drug-rehabilitation.htm
  
  

You know, when I found this information, I thought about how different our lives would have been if I had found it sooner. Then I thought- would I have had the guts to tell him that he needed expert help? You see, I was a bit scared of him. He was much older than me, he was my senior, like an older brother and his friends told me he could have one hell of a temper. He never got angry with me, but still I was damn scared of annoying him. Moreover, if I ever dared bring up the topic of smoking or drinking in his presence, he would give us a look that said that I had crossed some unknown boundary, and I would shut up immediately. He wanted to give it up himself, but he didn't like to talk about it.

It is only now that I realize that I shouldn't have shut up, that I should've risked his anger. All of us should have.

Guys, don't make the mistake we made.Trust me, you don't wanna go about feeling somehow responsible for your best mate's death, or ruin.

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