Karthik, your writing is always so honest and self-aware. I have never had any patience with folks who drink and drive - I don't think any excuse justifies it. I really liked how you explained your perspective without ever condoning the act. Congratulations on your year of sobriety and writing! May both continue for many years. :)
Hi Rohan, thanks so much for your feedback and your wishes. DUI gets normalisd for some us because we have grown up watching our fathers and uncles drive us home after drinks and dinner. Back in the village, there is no other way to get home late at night. It sounds scary but I am now thinking they must be so aware of their limits and also careful with their driving that we witnessed zero incidents while growing up.
Karthik, no words for this essay.. only gratitude for you and on your behalf.. but want to celebrate your writing life by chiming in after Binu ♥️♥️ Thank you for this one year of writing. You’ve given us so many gifts. And you have given yourself the ultimate gift.
Very well put Karthik. So nice of you to share this with the rest of us. Somehow the way you write softens things up so much. The self loathing we generally have for ourselves during such situations becomes so human in your writing.
I have been practicing Vipassana since June this year and realised that drinking interferes with my meditation. Want to quit completely but there is always someone who insists "please have one for me" and I am too much of a people pleaser not to do it.
Congratulations for the abstinence and writing, Karthik! I learn so much from reading you. I was in the phase when I drank occasionally but a fair bit when I did. I'm now taking a conscious month away from booze every now and then and have cut out the binge drinking. If I have considered staying away entirely it's for the better sleep but also for the time to read and write like you have. I hope it means enough for me to strengthen my resolve further like it has for you and I will take much inspiration from your story.
Ayush, I am happy to know this essay is helpful. Awareness is key - and we can make small adjustments here and there so that we have that drink and write about it too :)
Karthik yaar! How? How do you manage to really say such hard (and extremely relatable!) things with such enviable sincerity and even more enviable quality of being so non judgemental. Here’s to many many years of sobriety and writing our truths!
Thank you for sharing Karthik! It requires a lot of courage. And yes, congratulations on your writerversary! I am so happy we get to read "Karthik unfiltered", you have so many nuggets of wisdom to share!
I am the proverbial PITA (pain in the ass) as far as drinking is concerned. Its taken me many years to master the "art" of keeping a neutral expression on my face when there is lots of booze involved. One of my lab mates once told me that he had just finished a drink and he could swear he saw my face at the bottom of that glass yelling and wagging my finger at him, telling him off :-)
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. It struck a chord with me. I have sometimes been the "oh have one drink with me" friend and I dont know why I do that! Your story made me reflect and pause, thank you for writing!
Hi Aditi, thank you for reading and sharing your story. I have noticed that people who consume a different kind of pop-culture (or those who are staunch teetotalers) cope with life very differently. I grew up watching 'Friends' and internalized that chilling with my pals means beer and pizza with sports on TV.
Such a honest recount of the whole journey, Karthik! I hope this is read by many who are on the fence to help jump over to the more responsible side of things. It is never too late to begin, just like your writing journey after all those Sundays. :)
Thank you for reading, Gargi. Yes, this is for those on the fence because they know their body is not agreeing with it and want to change their lifestyle but it's bloody hard - especially for men because our identities are tied to it unfortunately.
Very well written on a topic that needs to be written more about.
There is another aspect of group think and culture that is less spoken about. That's the tacit encouragement and passive involvement of non-drinkers in this culture. Casual references that celebrate drinking is so common among non-drinkers just to be part of the 'gang'. May be I should write about it someday.
Hi Pradeep, yes there are non-drinkers who find drinking cool - thanks to the drinking culture around us. I know non-drinkers who enjoy it when people get drunk - because that's when the party gets going. There's absolutely nothing wrong in having a good party :)
Thank you for your honesty Karthik. This is such essential writing. When I had my daughter, my body rejected alcohol completely. I no longer enjoyed it so I gave up drinking. I remember friends trying to get me to have that 'one drink.' Eventually one friend commented that I had become boring. It hurt to hear it and took my years to be okay with it. So reading your essay was like a soothing balm. Thank you.
Karthik, your writing is always so honest and self-aware. I have never had any patience with folks who drink and drive - I don't think any excuse justifies it. I really liked how you explained your perspective without ever condoning the act. Congratulations on your year of sobriety and writing! May both continue for many years. :)
Hi Rohan, thanks so much for your feedback and your wishes. DUI gets normalisd for some us because we have grown up watching our fathers and uncles drive us home after drinks and dinner. Back in the village, there is no other way to get home late at night. It sounds scary but I am now thinking they must be so aware of their limits and also careful with their driving that we witnessed zero incidents while growing up.
Thanks for sharing your journey, Karthik. And congratulations! Not just for a year of sobriety but more importantly a year of writing 😊❤️
Thanks so much for your encouragement, Binu 🙂
Karthik, no words for this essay.. only gratitude for you and on your behalf.. but want to celebrate your writing life by chiming in after Binu ♥️♥️ Thank you for this one year of writing. You’ve given us so many gifts. And you have given yourself the ultimate gift.
I'm so grateful that I found the strength to do this in the company of the best people :))
Very well put Karthik. So nice of you to share this with the rest of us. Somehow the way you write softens things up so much. The self loathing we generally have for ourselves during such situations becomes so human in your writing.
I have been practicing Vipassana since June this year and realised that drinking interferes with my meditation. Want to quit completely but there is always someone who insists "please have one for me" and I am too much of a people pleaser not to do it.
Thank you for your response, Rakhi. Maybe you can give yourself cheat days where you enjoy your drink without feeling bad about it.
Congratulations for the abstinence and writing, Karthik! I learn so much from reading you. I was in the phase when I drank occasionally but a fair bit when I did. I'm now taking a conscious month away from booze every now and then and have cut out the binge drinking. If I have considered staying away entirely it's for the better sleep but also for the time to read and write like you have. I hope it means enough for me to strengthen my resolve further like it has for you and I will take much inspiration from your story.
Ayush, I am happy to know this essay is helpful. Awareness is key - and we can make small adjustments here and there so that we have that drink and write about it too :)
Karthik yaar! How? How do you manage to really say such hard (and extremely relatable!) things with such enviable sincerity and even more enviable quality of being so non judgemental. Here’s to many many years of sobriety and writing our truths!
Thank you, S!! Even I am finding this out about myself through readers' feedback :)
Congratulations on finishing one year of not drinking and one year of opening your vein to tell your stories!
Thank you Venkatesh! That's so vivid and so cool. Haha :)
So brave, Karthik :) Congratulations on coming so far!
Thanks so much S 😊🙏🏽
Congratulations on your one year anniversary of being sober Karthik and for writing a wonderful heartfelt piece.
Thank you for your wishes, Kalpana
I am glad you liked this :)
Bravo! Well done K.
Thankooo Savvy! :)
Thank you for sharing Karthik! It requires a lot of courage. And yes, congratulations on your writerversary! I am so happy we get to read "Karthik unfiltered", you have so many nuggets of wisdom to share!
I am the proverbial PITA (pain in the ass) as far as drinking is concerned. Its taken me many years to master the "art" of keeping a neutral expression on my face when there is lots of booze involved. One of my lab mates once told me that he had just finished a drink and he could swear he saw my face at the bottom of that glass yelling and wagging my finger at him, telling him off :-)
Hahaha I also imagined you at the bottom of the glass now.
But yes, we need to have some fun outings without booze involved for men to learn there are other ways to socialize :)
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. It struck a chord with me. I have sometimes been the "oh have one drink with me" friend and I dont know why I do that! Your story made me reflect and pause, thank you for writing!
Hi Aditi, thank you for reading and sharing your story. I have noticed that people who consume a different kind of pop-culture (or those who are staunch teetotalers) cope with life very differently. I grew up watching 'Friends' and internalized that chilling with my pals means beer and pizza with sports on TV.
Thank you for writing this Karthik 😊
Hi Khyati, thank you for reading :)
Thank you for writing this, Karthik! More power to your pen 🙌 Also, feeling very proud of you and your long journey. This post is inspiring :)
Thank you soooo much Sanskriti!!! :')
Such a honest recount of the whole journey, Karthik! I hope this is read by many who are on the fence to help jump over to the more responsible side of things. It is never too late to begin, just like your writing journey after all those Sundays. :)
Thank you for reading, Gargi. Yes, this is for those on the fence because they know their body is not agreeing with it and want to change their lifestyle but it's bloody hard - especially for men because our identities are tied to it unfortunately.
Very well written on a topic that needs to be written more about.
There is another aspect of group think and culture that is less spoken about. That's the tacit encouragement and passive involvement of non-drinkers in this culture. Casual references that celebrate drinking is so common among non-drinkers just to be part of the 'gang'. May be I should write about it someday.
Once again, good work Karthik 👍
Hi Pradeep, yes there are non-drinkers who find drinking cool - thanks to the drinking culture around us. I know non-drinkers who enjoy it when people get drunk - because that's when the party gets going. There's absolutely nothing wrong in having a good party :)
Thank you for your honesty Karthik. This is such essential writing. When I had my daughter, my body rejected alcohol completely. I no longer enjoyed it so I gave up drinking. I remember friends trying to get me to have that 'one drink.' Eventually one friend commented that I had become boring. It hurt to hear it and took my years to be okay with it. So reading your essay was like a soothing balm. Thank you.