drink

So last night was a friend's birthday and we all trooped over to his house bearing imported liquor (Tanqueray, natch) only to be met by about 50 relatives and a priest! Formalities over with (birthday blessings etc.) we then proceeded to get very drunk. Someone busted out a guitar and drunks, and predictably, we descended into that oh-so-very Sri lankan ritual of singing when drunk. It was low-key, mellow and rather fun, especially when we broke into the 70s songs and all with some remarkable pitch and tone combinations.

Some interesting facts/urban legend:
a) Sri Lanka has the highest suicide rates
b) Sri Lanka has the highest liquor consumption rates (with an average of 200ml of pure alcohol per day! Statistics from the World Health Organization, as of 2002. Reportedly it's increased since the tsunami. This multiplies into 2.5 liters of beer per day or 1 litre of 40% vodka per DAY!!!! And this is an annual average and given the fact that about 60% of the population (about 80% of which are females and the rest of the males) do not consume alcohol at all, it can mean that the average alcohol-drinking male can consume up to 4.5 liters of beer PER DAY or 1.8 liters of straight vodka PER DAY.

(I was like, there is no way that would be true, because a) people can't afford it and b) we would all be dead if that was true but clearly I was wrong and this country has problems)
c) Sri Lanka has the highest number of holidays in the world. (The latter I can vouch for).

Now if you look at all these facts, you can see the same causal factor, or at the very least, some significant correlation. Do they drink because they're on holiday? Do they commit suicide because they are drunk? Do they drink/commit suicide because they're depressed (as a result of having too much time to think on holiday)?

People here drink a helluva lot though.

On another note, it's big-match season right now, with the Royal Thomian coming up this week. (It's a test match by the way, and all this time I thought it was an ODI, but then that would defeat the purpose of drinking as much as humanly possible with a legitimate excuse). Sigh.