Drinking away...

There was a time when we used to stay awake all through the night with books and sipping coffee and tea. This day was no different from those days, just that we were drinking whiskey and rum the whole night.
This happened that day neither by an accident nor was it planed days before. A bet was drawn between Lijo and Prashanth for a hefty sum of two hundred Australian Dollars. The bet was to drink one peg more than the other and he who does so would be declared the winner. Drinking was not a new thing for Lijo and he considered himself to be the winner before the race started. Lijo nor I ever saw Prashanth any thing other than a orange juice or a can of coke.

The long race kicked off at around half past eight at night and I was still at the office staring at my monitor and hitting the keyboard as hard as I can. I arrive home at around nine only to see the race going on at a high speed. Each one had a glass of whiskey in their hands. To my surprise, Ajit seemed not to be drinking and to my curiosity I questioned why Ajit was not drinking. Then came the answer that the referee for the day had to remain sober. I knew that controlling his thirst for whiskey would not last for long, but still he stayed away from the bottle till eleven at night. The fast pace of the race slowed down by eleven and both Lijo and Prashanth were having a tough time gulping the drinks down their throat. The levels of bottles were going down slowly. After sometime a third bottle of whiskey appeared on the table from no where. It was Ajit’s drink.

The two main competitors in the game already slowed down when they bottles just reached a quarter levels. Then to make the game more interesting, Ajit pitched in and challenged the already drunk guys that he would drink the whole bottle before the other two did. When 400 dollars was at stake, no one agreed as no one dared to challenge the DK (the Drinks King). During this time even I gulped down two bottles of beer and settled down at the corner of the room.
When the great challenge was in progress, the drunk guys forced me to walk on the Lygon street just with shorts and a shoe on. And while I was walking back to the room from the Lygon street I suddenly found that some one has pulled my shorts down. Then I found out that a human quality called shame has moved out from me and I just pulled them back to position and resumed my walk.
It was 3 at night and still there was no winner for the game except that Ajit had an empty bottle in his hand. By 4 the last drops were poured into the glasses and the one to drink the glass first would emerge as the winner. The excitement grew and the tension mounted as both the competitors were evenly paced at the moment. By 4.30 Prashanth drank is last drop from the glass and emerged the winner and Lijo followed closely and finished 3 seconds later.

The most coveted award of 400 dollars was given away by the Drinks King to Prashanth.
After the war of the bottles, I could find a place to sleep at around 4.30 AM in the morning and had to walk with half opened eyes to the office.


That was the night that a drinker would love to have and no one would ever forget that soon.