It was my girlfriend’s birthday recently, and I was tasked with organising the event. This generally means that I navigate the complex structures of the birthday girl’s social life and invite the right set of people so that no one is offended, but also no one feels uncomfortable in the party. That, and order the food and alcohol. Now naturally, being students at university, the alcohol part requires some tact. The common method has been to order it via a delivery app/service thing. The delivery boy reaches the store, you pick your poison and pay digitally, and he arrives within 15 minutes to the campus. Now the city I live in is weird, and shops tend to close by 11. Still, late enough that one can order it before the party starts.
Most students however, prefer to get their alcohol well in advance, showing a knack for forethought rarely seen when it comes to matters of academic interest. By 8 PM, it has reached some acquaintance’s room, and eventually it comes with the said acquaintance to the party. Often in friend groups, this job is given to the person most experienced with this protocol, and the initial experience is sought by befriending said experienced folks.
In our party however, my go to experienced friend couldn’t make it. No issues, I have another. However, the complex social hierarchies dictated that the other experienced friend shouldn’t be asked for this help. Thus it fell to me.
Now I have rarely broken rules. In the past I may have been a Hermione, and been a stickler for them. Through years of a mixture of peer pressure, curiosity, and exposure to a more liberal view to such things, I have begun to partake in some rule breaking, but still refrain from doing so too often, and from facilitating the said rule breaking.
That meant I was unsure of the exact protocol, and the many, many dependencies necessary to complete it. If the party starts at 11, I reasoned, then starting the delivery by 10 should cut it. It would still cause a slight inconvenience with my schedule for bath, but that should be manageable. What I didn’t factor, dear reader, is that this city goes to sleep so early, and given it was a Sunday, it did so even earlier. Not one delivery boy could be found, and that meant I couldn’t order the alcohol.
But my friends’ expectations for a fun night rested on me. I had to secure some from anywhere. Now I did attempt a few ways, but none worked out. Thus, we were going to have a party without alcohol. But, I thought, most people in my friend circle are not heavy drinkers. Also some have exams tomorrow, and need to study. Some have to wake up early. One doesn’t drink at all. Plus its not like we’ve not had parties before. In our more timid early semesters, things were pretty virgin. We’ll still have fun.
Sour grapes.
We did have fun. People stayed for about 3 hours, which is a decent time, and no one seemed exceptionally bored. We played a few card games, which I thought were fun, and most people enjoyed. Me and my girlfriend still had fun after. Playing some more card games I mean. And yet, at some point, someone remarked that since most of us were free that day, any of us could have gone out and gotten alcohol. True, I can hardly argue. I was lazing around until dinner time anyway. And we did have fun during the party without alcohol too. But still, people wanted it.
Now, I get the point of alcohol, it lets you let yourself lose (loose?). It lubricates the slightly slower moments of the night. But you hardly require it for fun. Sure, its funny to see the lightweights let loose much faster, and the more serious ones lighten up for once. But you don’t need alcohol to feel comfortable, and to relax. Definitely, it tastes kinda bad, but a light buzz feels great. But surely, that buzz can be replaced with great moments in your full consciousness.
And yet, sometimes I wonder, maybe we really do need alcohol to have fun.