Covid 17

Covid 17

 A group of friends at a party. They’d never had anything more intoxicating than beer. And the one time a gulp of feni mistaken for water.  He’d spat that out though. Here was a friend of a friend of a friend with marijuana. He was offering him a drag. He’d have been a sissy to turn it down. Not in front of everybody. Even the girls hadn’t said no. So he partook that day. And the next and the next. 

Maslows heirachy of needs applies to almost everything. Marijuana to hashish to brown sugar to mainlining heroin was just a logical progression. More heroin for the same high. Lots more for an increased high. 

Until the day he ODed and landed up in the emergency room. Then started his rounds of the rehab centres, support groups, counsellors, psychiatrists, faith healers, ashrams.... . There was always someone on the fringes. Ready to alleviate the unbearable pains of withdrawal with that just one hit. That first step onto the downward slide he was trying so hard to get off. The one step that always lead back to the full blown avalanche. Days of bandhs he always made sure he was buffered. 

The initial lockdown had been easy to field.

The withdrawals this time were the worst ever.His dealers had vanished. Not just them but everyone in the bylane next to Bandra station. Them ,the matka ticket sellers, the hookers, even the beggars. 

Two months into the lockdown. He was thinking that if he could make it thru two months maybe he could make it thru a lifetime. Maybe he had a chance.