Confessions of an alcoholic

Living away from family and friends in a distant unknown land can be very difficult. It is even more difficult when most people in that city don't understand the language you speak. But somehow on my birthday, I never felt alone for a moment. Yes, I spoke to my family over the phone but that was not all. I have really been lucky to be a part of a lab whose members really care for me. From helping me get a phone connection to my bank account - they took care of everything. I think that the decision to come to Korea was not a bad decision after all. My labmates have almost made up for the lack of a family in this country as best as they could. I had just casually mentioned about my birthday sometime and yet they remembered it. When the time came, I had an excellent birthday party and a great lunch. But the real surprise was reserved for the night.
I came to Seoul as part of the Samsung GS Program and ever since the 7 GSP students of the 2008 batch had been close friends. But on the night of my birthday I was really surprised - pleasantly surprised. November and December are the birthday months for the GSP students and the usual norm was to take a cake and wine to the birthday boys room. That night I was watching a movie when I was suddenly interrupted by knocks on the door. I was surprised by the other guys (the Russians) at my doorstep standing with a cake and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. Now this was breaking away from tradition! Instead of wine, it was scotch - though it was a rather nice gift for me, I was rather disturbed thinking about it later.
Ever since I have arrived in Korea, there has been a general opinion about me. Firstly, at a party where the alumni of my lab were present, I had to drink 3 shots after almost 3 beers. After that day, my thesis advisor, Prof Kim, seems to have developed a keen admiration for my drinking capacity. On my b'day night, Yukti (another GSP student at SKK) called me to wish. When she came to know that I was having party at my room, the first question she asked was - " I guess it involves a lot of drinking and smoking?" I was rather disturbed by her comment. Have I really become an alcoholic, so much so that even the Russians consider scotch more appropriate for my birthday rather than normal wine? Now I realise that it might actually be true. I'm writing this article after downing a whole 'khamba' - the traditional colloquial term for a large bottle of liquor. And I don't feel anything. 6 months ago, this quantity of alcohol would have been probably been fatal for me. I don't know what happened in between but I know that habit makes a man perfect. I seems to have acquired a perfection at a rather undesirable art! A few months back, a certain incident in my life triggered by the presence of some excellent breweries in the neighborhood made me try out a new form of beer almost everyday. It was also the time when something that I call the "Single Malt effect" happened. The confusion in my life, the puzzle of Visual continuity illusion and a certain 'crossroad' brought about very hard times and unfortunately at that time I also happened to the discover the Single Malt Effect through a bottle of Glenfiddich! This Scottish elixir conspired with some excellent brews from the Schwabian brew -to bring about a time when I had to actually really on the bottle to fire my imagination! The result was amazing (at least professionally) but the hangover from those days seems to have stayed on. As a result, I'm still sitting on a Saturday night (actually Sunday morning) in front of my laptop, waiting for the 'HIGH' to set in, while sadly looking at an empty bottle of scotch that I had bought a few hours ago.