#AtoZChallenge- Teetotaler’s Tale

Meera and team were heading to their project success party at a client’s location. As the celebrations began, people flocked towards the bar for drinks. Meera browsed through the menu for non alcoholic beverages apart from soda. But as usual, she couldn’t find anything and even if she did, her options would be very limited. As she sat sighing at having only soda again, she saw her team mates approaching her with a bunch of beer bottles.

“You want a beer? They have some flavored ones you could try”, offered her colleague. “Oh, that’s great! Mmm, I don’t drink, but thanks”, she smiled. “Oh okay”, her colleague threw a weird smile. The same story at every party Meera attends. She headed to the bar to ask for options. All she could get was some juice but the bar tender was generous enough and offered to make her some virgin mojito though it wasn’t on the menu. “Oh well, something is better than nothing”, she thought.

After few casual conversations and roaming around congratulating one another, Meera couldn’t stop wondering about her habit for being ‘non-alcoholic’, for the way she was often questioned about it. As she sat down sipping in her mojito, she was reminded of how her friends considered her ‘old fashioned’ and often commented that she doesn’t know how to have fun, just because she doesn’t drink. “Why is it so hard to accept a teetotaler? What’s questionable in making a choice of what to eat or drink? Well may be, the world has a habit of questioning anything that isn’t obvious”, she wondered.

Most parties even forget there exist people who don’t take alcohol and there are hardly any choices apart from water. “Well, my choice of being sober is a sin these days, as at the end of the day I’m often judged and considered to be boring, anti- social or depressing”, she sighed. How can a choice of beverage decide someone’s personality? “Well, whatever! I don’t drink because I don’t want to and not because I can’t, so I don’t have to give any explanations”, she thought to herself and continued enjoying her minted virgin mojito.