Higher than you!

Everybody gets on a high. Well, at times. Everybody has a stimulus. Something that gives them a rush of blood to the head. Adrenaline pumping. Hormonal overdose. Usually, its alcohol that's playing devil. Smooth, acidic, hot, throat-piercing, amber coloured group of liquids. Ever since some early man sporting matted hair and matching furs accidently fermented fruit juice that he was saving for the next day and ended up acting tipsy and whooped around twirling his furs over his head in a circle, shocking what was mankind's first society (Needless to say, the world's first sot made it to the cover etching of the world's first issue of Time magazine. It was a stone tablet back then). Alcohol is everybody's common vice. And vice versa. I've seen some "specimens" in my pubbing days. I've seen people losing their heads over half a pint of mild beer (Literally. There was this one guy who started sobbing on a waiter's shoulder saying he left his head at his table and had gone to the loo. Well, it wasn't there when he came back. It turned out he was talking about his helmet. Which after a careful search was spotted on his bike handlebar.). I've seen veterans downing tequilas like they were relaxing with a jug of water after running a 5 mile jog (A friend claims to have shot down 40 glasses of dry rum. He always claimed to be tall for his age. Pun intended.). It seems everyone has a limit. Some have very low capacities while others drink everyone else under the table. On a personal front, I've retired without finding out my capacity (I always ran out of cash before I could test myself). Yet, there are others who get high on other things. I know a couple of adrenaline junkies who swear by speed. They are all back-slapping and high-fiving after a bike ride on an open road (Agreed. There's nothing better than biking down a highway with your friends. Nothing. But, I rather like to take a look around and enjoy the scenes too.). A lot of people go for extreme sports. I don't mind experiencing the rush once in a while, but on a regular basis is not my style. I am the guy who freaks out while sitting in an autorickshaw in Bangalore. Some people, though, are just weird. Anne, a friend of mine gets a saccharine-high. She acts crazy after a dose of sugar-laced coffee. Her usual, dour, complaining self drops away and she goes around singing and dancing around. Coffee. Must be a powerful stimulant. Just today, La had a few sips of my sugarless, black coffee. Gone! She went hysterical. Laughing (more than usual. Not like the laughing she does when with The Nutcase.) for everything not even remotely funny (Of course, we all have a poor opinion of La's sense of humour. But really, she went overboard today. I swear, if this happened while we were on a ship, I'd go overboard. Avast! Man Overboard! P.S. Due to constant reminding, pleading and threatening by certain readers, I have decided it prudent to increase font size.