Celebrations …….bye 2023

Celebrations is a state of mind more than the event of celebration, be it a birthday, wedding, festive occasion like Diwali, Christmas or a grand occasion of new year, our state of mind gets tuned towards these occasions and gets into a celebration mood.

Let’s say we are up for a busy working day & at the end of day we are set for a gala party in the evening, our mind automatically starts gearing up and a inert excitement creeps into our mind and we come to celebration mood as we progress towards evening, out from days rig roll of work engagements .

However these celebrations have started to take a different turn in the last few years, As more & more youth are joining the workforce and our office cultures are getting hybrid in terms of gender balance coupled with economic growth and financial stability, party culture is fast catching up in Indian society at all levels of social and age groups. This party culture is predominantly hijacked by excessive consumption of alcohol in all forms. We are experiencing exponential growth in pubs and restaurants catering to late night dining alongside the flow of alcohol. Last two years have seen a network of swanky alcohol outlets growing at faster pace than the Airtel network system of yesteryears .

Economic times headlines of 4.60 cr bottles of alcohol consumed in December up to 29th alone in Delhi even before year end consumption is mind boggling. Let’s break it up to the average per capita consumption of the drinking population in Delhi. As per electoral rolls published in Delhi on Nov 22, Delhi had male population of about 80 lacs and female population of 68 lacs. Among the male population let’s assume 20% are above the age of 70 who we assume may not be hard consumers of alcohol or consume very less alcohol. This leaves 64 lac men below the age of 70, Let’s further assume 75% are drinking and the balance 25% don’t drink at all. This leaves a drinking population of 48 lac men. Add 25 % female population (68 lacs) with fair drinking habits which makes the drinking population at 65 lacs .

This gives us a staggering consumption of 7 bottles of alcohol a month on an average without considering the consumption at the year end/new year party. At this rate of consumption imagine the pressure Delhi drinking population has put on their stomach, levers and kidneys. Mind it, it’s just a month, the season of October to December remains busy with celebrations and the number of 4.60 cr bottles could be 15-20 crs also.

This is Delhi and add NCR and imagine the consumption, it will roll anyone’s head. Question is why did I make inroads into drinking patterns when I started with celebrations, this is the moot point I am raising. Celebrations from lunch to dinners have become a ritual of drinking. We now have BYOB (Buy your own booze) all over the borders of Delhi and Gurgaon as if there was no place for drinking. BYOBs consume alcohol in gallons accompanied by unhealthy food which makes it worse on anyone’s stomach.

Times may have changed, economic status may have improved, lifestyles may have evolved, notwithstanding these changes human body remains the same as it was 75 or any donkey years back, earlier general population had less affordability but their expectations were also limited hence less stress, today affordability has pushed the expectations of people to any limits raising the stress levels and all of this is badly

topped by new age celebrations of late night parties with the flow of toxic fluid. Booze has a dependable friend in cigarettes and cigars. Here the Liquid and smoke has this unique place where they make a deadly combination. Otherwise liquid, say water is used to quench or put off wherever we see smoke but not the case for this combination in parties, clubs, pubs.

Analysts are Gung-ho about the prospectus of the healthcare sector, anything in the healthcare sector is attracting foreign strategic and financial investors. Every city is witnessing rapid expansion of hospitals, medical center’s and modern clinics. It’s generally attributed to awareness of people to be mindful of health issues but surprisingly the more facilities, the more patients are thronging everywhere.

Reality could be in the failing health of people which to my understanding is likely to rise if we progress at this pace.

In the recent survey which caused a lot of concern in Gujarat during dandiya celebration, there was an unprecedented increase in heart failures for people in their 30s and 40s this year.

We all have a reason to be concerned with this lifestyle. People in their 20s and 30s may need to really worry about potential health hazards that could evolve with an excessive booze filled lifestyle. We read a lot about cardiac arrests in young ages besides multiple Health issues with terminal outcomes.

We are witnessing an exponential growth in hospitals and clinics in recent years, every time you visit any of them, they are filled to capacity.

When we are young and youthful, lost in careers and money bags, life looks exciting leading to lifestyles with poor foundations for advancing ages, sowing seeds of an ill planned journey which is bound to end in despair.

Relatively young people today are motivated, charged and ambitious to make it big in their lives and grow wealth. What they are missing is that more than material wealth, it is imperative to prioritize “H” instead of “W” to the word H/W EALTH.

With the incoming data, the majority of the men classified above are certainly headed for uncertain times with the potential of multiple health hazards, and crippled life.

The quality of life is not determined by how well we live when we are young but how well you spend the last 25 years of life. You may have lived a kings life but if one gets inflicted by some sickness or diseases after the age 50-55, it makes balance life tough and the so called healthy life lived is of no use, it will erase all great happenings of yesteryears and consume mind and soul in last 2 to 3 decades of life.

Celebrate but celebrate with grace , it is your body and it’s just a body which can refuse the abuse anytime without notice .Aspire to die healthy and enjoy life by its rules & not by yours till the end .