Fortunately or unfortunately, my baptism did not involve wine. Instead, it was rum.Â
It all started when I was in class X. My biology teacher Mrs Geeta Kumari asked me to bring a dash of alcohol to school so that I could in-sensitize the frog I would dissect the following day.
My father`s 32 years in the Army helped. He lined up the liquor bottles and asked me to choose one from among his repertoire. The magnanimous gent that he was he agreed to part with the designer-friendly Old Monk rum bottle that caught my eye. I told him that the onus of in-sensitizing all the 20+ frogs for the class was on me.
Seldom has a young lad of 16 walked into a school building with a Old Monk bottle in full display. Later in the day, the teacher would say a few drops of the highly intoxicating liquid that I was carrying would be enough for the amphibians. Needless to say, the rest was consumed by 16 of my classmates. Fourteen of those got spanked by their fathers on returning home. The other two did not reach home till it was late in the night and their parents had already filed FIRs. They also got spanked.
The next day at school was different. Everybody was aware of our escapade, and there was no escaping the naughty looks we got from even our juniors.
Since, I was the protagonist of the episode, the Principal asked my father to meet him. They had a nice long chat…must have lasted an hour or so. I do not know what transpired between the two, but the next evening the principal came home for a drinking session with my father.