It's a record

Go to Turquoise Cottage or Buzz (they're pubs in Delhi where I was a regular at) and say, "Rohit has not gone clubbing for a month," and you'll probably find chairs and tables being swung at you for bullshitting.

And you probably won't live to say these five words: "But you fuckers, it's true."

I started drinking at the age of 15, with a few senior school buddies, who offered me a glass of beer after a cricket match, and I spent the rest of the day laughing my ass off.

I started pubbing... mmm... I think I was 19... six years it's been. And never in these sex years have I not clubbed for a week at a stretch leave alone a friggin month.

Sure, it's by compulsion that I shattered records, coz all bars are closed during the month of Ramadan. But what the heck! A record it is.

There was quite a debate in Delhi, whether or not Rohit is an alcoholic. People that hated me (there were lots of those, you can imagine) would say it out to their friends, "You find that guy hot??!!! He's a fuckin alcoholic."

Ex-girlfriends would use the word "alcoholic" to answer the question why it didn't work out between me and them...

You know... blah blah...

And a time came, when I thought, you know, I just might be an alcoholic, so now that I already am, might as well just go all out.

But the truth was, I just LOVED clubbing. I freaked out in pubs. And sure, I had a sweet tooth for alcohol...

I started clubbing every single day. Now what... I won't go to a pub and drink milk now will I? Obvio I'll drink beer or rum man. What the screw!

So I'd go on and on... dancing around... talking around with people, enjoying every day like its the weekend, and sure, I'd be a little (ok... smashed) drunk by the time the music stopped and the lights went brighter.

I never puked. Never ever ever. I'd always reach home... somehow (sometimes I used to forget how I got home). I mean I obviously drove home, but used to think, hell if I don't remember the drive, I can just imagine how I drove.

But people told me, and I also know, that I drive really really slow when I'm drunk. Maybe 20km/per hour. Speed would scare me.

I don't know... I was never the kind to go to work, come back home, sleep and then go to work again the next morning. I had to do something in between.

And for a guy, who didn't have friends, coz I just found it way too much of a hassle going out of your way to make friends, let time bring you closer, talk on the phone blah blah... just too much of a hassle. So I preferred being friendless.

Just a couple of friends here and there who understood me, and I didn't have to explain myself at all, and who didn't judge me. The rest... I just coulnd't be bothered about.

I sometimes, poured a drink at home, knowing, Ok, you fuck, you've blown all your salary up, now sit home and drink.

I could never ever finish that one damn drink! It tasted so yuck. And it was so boring to even think of being drunk without no one around to watch or talk to... you know... even if the talking doesn't happen in a pub, at least there are people around... at least there IS A CHANCE, an OPTION available if you want to. Get my point?

So pubbing it was, everyday.

I would almost scream at some of my girlfriends for not wanting to go pubbing. Coz they used to say, "Jaan, we've gone pubbing for the past six days every fucking day... lets give it a break."

Break my ass ya. Fine you don't wanna go, don't go. Let me go. But no, they wanted to go for a walk.

Walks are fine...now... but then I was 20, 21... what walks man!

The last girl I was with... it was for a little over two months that we were together. The last day we were together - February 14, 2005 - a very close friend of mine told me, "She looks dead Rohit. She's fucking dead."

The one month of continuous partying, pubbing every single day, somewhere or the other, obviously, it showed on her face. She was screwed man.

But I swear, that day, I was the one who didn't wanna go clibbing, but she insisted, coz her friends were there. I was like, fine dude, I'll come.

It's a different matter, her ex-boyfriend was there too and the next day she called me up to tell me that she's going back to him.

Anyway, the clubbing continued for me.

It wasn't like EVERY night was like heavy with dancing around and getting drunk. Some nights I would drink really moderately, just sit in one corner, sometimes have a few people coming up to me to ask me why I was so dead, talking to a few aquaintances... you know just chatting about, eating n stuff.

But it had to be in a club. Even after a party... a private party, I'd head for a club.

It's just so awesome out there. Seeing people party, enjoying life, drinking alcohol, dancing around, watching you, you watching them... the maybe, maybe not factor (if you know what I mean)... you know... just being out there, visible to the world, open... to the chance of bumping into someone extraordinary, who'll probably floor you... etc etc...

It can never happen indoors, obviously.

Even when I came to Qatar, I checked for bars and night clubs. There are several.

My flatmate keeps telling me... why do you go to bars... just drink at home. His arguement is, in a bar you pay 100 riyals for five pegs of rum, at home you get a whole bottle for 32 riyals.

My arguement is, I pay extra for the atmosphere, not for the booze.

I just love clubbing.

It's absolutely a fantastic concept.

I don't know... some people say they would give anything to see me at 35 or 40 - the way I would turn out to be, maybe calm and composed probably gardening, with my kid jumping around on my shoulder.

What nonsense!

But you never know. I don't know about 10 or 15 years down the line. I don't know about tom0rrow.

Today I know, I love clubbing. And I feel at home in clubs. The crowd doesn't intimidate me, the alcohol is really friendly to me, and women smile at me, while their boyfriends give me dirty looks.

It's not at all alien. I love it in there. It's just so... so... known to me.

Day after tomorrow is Eid, and that's when the bars open. And that's when clubbing begins.

Eeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaa!

A record it is anyway... spread the word.