Women and Alcohol
Check out this story in Outlook
The photograph was the only good thing about the story. I am sure some would shrug it off as that ‘Northie’ thing. ‘Chennai is conservative’ goes the popular refrain. Wrong! People in other parts of the country do whatever they want. People in chennai call themselves conservatives and still do whatever they want, under cover. That’s the difference. I know a lot of folks who drink. Some are women.
I am neither a conservative nor a hypocrite. One reason I can never ever agree is the theory that career minded women drink to ‘relax’ themselves. Huh!
I am concerned about my female friends who drink, especially after reading the doctors’ views in the article.
Paarthu kudinga thaai kulame!
Ellam nera kodumai!!
PS: Be smart enough to use the services of bugmenot, or honest enough to register yourself to read this stuff 
July 14th, 2008 at 1:38 am
I am sure most of our Tamil friends will be pissed off hearing; but the reality is as you say: we all do whatever we want, under the cover. Worst we have the guts to come out and beat those who say they do (drink or whatever).
Nice post.
Joseph
July 14th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Can’t be asked to register or even go to the bugmenot, so haven’t read the article.
But in any case, just wondering why paathu kudinga thai kulame? If your advise had been just don’t drink be it woman or a man that would have been a lot better and less hypocritical. But then again, maybe we should just agree to disagree on this too
July 14th, 2008 at 4:39 am
ok the curiosity got the better of me, read the article, gorgeous shoes, some lovely clothes and guess the effects of binge drinking would be as bad whether its a man or a woman. Oh well
July 14th, 2008 at 5:13 am
wa
That men drink is known issue. The article is on women drinking.
Doctor solradhai partha, the effect is more severe on women.
If stating that makes me a hypocrite, so be it
July 14th, 2008 at 8:28 am
PK nice article kind of eye opener. This has become rampant in our present society. Unfortunately if we raise about awareness and ills of alcohol, we will be branded as mad conservative.
Sad state of affairs.
I know Chennai is still considered as little ‘backward’ but going by the reports I don’t think so.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Ganesh
Thanks. eye opener..yeah.. innum topical a sollanum na bottle opener
I felt sorry for that lady who is now counselling other women folks in AA.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:25 am
joseph
Welcome! Precisely. Andha guts saamyamanadhu illai…
July 14th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
i quite agree with Ganesh, that if we ask people not to drink we would be seen as conservative and backward!!!
But then i thnk people need to be a bit more responsible with their life.
Of course temptations overpower an individual.
Have not yet read the article, because of the registration requirements.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Good article. However, only speaking from experience, both myself & my late husband, drank from our late 20’s to mid 40’s. We were married to others, who we were not suited for, and yes, we used alcohol to calm our nerves. We each also drank with friends, family & work mates, ALWAYS !
Both of us were A-1 healthy from birth. THEN in our mid 40’s we each were hit, almost the exact same period of time, with ‘Grand-Mal Seizures’ somewhat related to Epilepsy, for life !
So, I think that liquor is as damaging on Men as Women.
We MUST somehow get our Government to insist that the Makers of the stuff, have large warning labels on each container & raise the prices too.
Same as done with cigarettes. Otherwise, look at the impression, ALL of our young people are getting !
July 14th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Kudikadha pengal IT industry la kammi. I have always found brahmin girls are the majority girls among drinking women. My first interaction with penngal kootu kudi thanam was in mumbai. Aduthu when I came to Univ of Kentucky, new year ku enaku therinja ponnu veetla party nu poirundhen. Anga iyer aathu pengal saraka uttu adichirundha. Appuram oru ponnu avaluku kalyanam nichayam aanadhai kondata treat kudutha nu pasanga ponanga..mattai aana avala 3 pasanga thookitu vandhu pottanga(idhu iyer illa, andhra ponnu anyway). Ipdi niraya pathu oru aru verupu vandhuruchi thaai kulangal mela. In my opinion kudikadha chennai girls kammi. Worst is in india girls and boys drink during BE days. It is under age drinking and will spoil their health as well. I also strongly beleive pre/extra marital sex is becoming very common in college and work place. People like me have become out of space and time in our own time. Very sorry state of affairs :(((((((((((((.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Malesh,
try using bugmenot, if its not blocked in your place!
yeah its no more a taboo as the article says.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
sheila
welcome. i do not think warnings are gonna help, at least in India.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
PB
Indian IT ulagam muranpaadugal niraindhadhu…
Inge yoga classes um nadakkum, binge drinking um nadakum…
both will be sponsored by the company
July 15th, 2008 at 12:16 am
regarding iyer girls drinking… well… urban society is without kula bedham for the most part…
we see the same movies, read the same books, visit the same websites.. hang out in the same coffee pubs, malls… so.
naan yaar judge panna.. atleast kudichutu bathirama veedu pora alavukku irundha thevalai… regular kudikaama occasional a (yearly few times in my definition.. not weekly few times) no issues idhuvum health factor laam irukaradhinaale..
In general, outside society think IT folks are bad. Though insiders like me think its not as bad as its projected by the media. Or maybe i am not aware of such things. Epdi Thirupathi la irukaravunukku Thirumalai oda arumai perumai theriyadho apdi…
IT folks think BPO folks are bad
Mothathile evanukkum yaarai pathiyum nalla abiprayame illa!
neraya vishayangal relative dhaan nu ninaikiren..
20 yrs munnadi jeans potta thappu, boy friends irundha thappu… innaiku boy friends illena thappu…
adhu madhiri dhaan idhuvum…
July 15th, 2008 at 9:46 am
article innum padikala… baingara aaruva kolarula poi outlook la register panninen, cos for some reason bugmenot crapped out on me.
the present day world has gone so radically out of control that anything and everything is right or wrong, depending only on “perspective”. If a guy says to a girl to quit drinking/smoking or even cut down consumption, he is seen as a killjoy/conservative person. Also a popular phrase such people dish out is - “onakku life-a enjoy panna therila”… The idea that enjoying life equals self-destruction in the form of promiscuity, alcoholism, cigarette smoking, etc. is considered to be, I guess, “cool” and “hip” and “in vogue”. I guess to an extent people have to do this, just to “fit in”. That is why we see demure girls and standing-in-the-corner-at-parties boys become suddenly way too friendly, because of their new found medium to socialize. Again, this is not a sweeping generalization, it is just that the numbers belonging to this “new age cool group” is increasing and the conservative/rational lot is diminishing and feeling left out.
After having been in the US for 7 years, people in India/US raise their eyebrows when I and some of my friends refuse their offer for a get together after work at the local bar. We are frowned upon, and I am sure in their minds, we belong at an anthropology museum. sigghh…. ennatha solradhu…
will read the article sometime…
July 15th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Women are more susceptible to social and peer pressure. Combine this with the fact that the effects of many male vices are asymmetric - they affect men and women to different extents and in different ways.
You have considered booze. Consider early sex. It’s completely well known that early sex and cervical cancer have a very strong link. But that piece of science won’t see daylight. Because it ain’t cool.
Female smoking started out as a gimmick by the father of modern PR, Eddie Bernays. He is on record admitting that - the video is on Youtube.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Zep
Article padikamale correct a dhaan sollirukka nee:) thats precisely what we are talking about. I *know* precisely what you are talking about on being left out . I’ve been seen as spoilsport, killjoy N number of times so far. I’ve been left out on tours simply coz i don’t drink by my close friends.. at a point in life when my life was lonely and nightmarish to say the least.
I have to confess one thing here. I cannot say i have never touched alcohol. I did taste wine and beer when I was in US coz i wanted to know the taste… I cannot talk from the ground that you do right now..Andha thagudhi laam enakku ilai..Though I have returned to my non-drinking ways ever since and would remain one.
Subconsciously this and the fact that most of my friends, save one or two, drink have made me more tolerant to this… So in all these years, thanniye adikaadheenga la irundhu.. adichu tholainga.. bathirama veedu vandhu serunga ngra alavukku vandhirkken…
July 15th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
BNB
>>Combine this with the fact that the effects of many male vices are asymmetric - they affect men and women to different extents and in different ways.
precisely.