Today, somewhere across the globe, a friend of mine, together with his friends are seated on a familiar set-up with a familiar concoction to celebrate an event that only happens once a year. It's his birthday, happy birthday Daive!
For sure (and I could only sigh wishing I am there) in the midst bacchaic gathering and festal mood, there will be topics that naturally find their way out of their mouth. It ranges from how bad the flood was, to the going-ons in the office to you-can-imagine-what. Then those topics will lead from physical to metaphysical. Words about God and His wonders and His powers will roar like thunder when bacchus is already lodged in the brain. But then, wherever the topic leads, it will find its dénoument when alcohol or the capacity to take more, runs out - whatever comes first. From the mundane, to the firmaments of heaven, the topic ends up with that poor thing who peacefully settled in the septic tank. Then we may now call it a night, or day or a dawn. It depends.
There can be myriads of topics, yes. But, do you remember those musings over inuman whether on birthdays, simple gatherings like celebrating the subsiding of Ondoy-like flood, or anything - on how about whiskey and gin or
any liquor for that matter, will come in sachet?
Well, wonder no more for what seems like a
faraway musing might just be so real, at least here in Cameroon!
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| Pick your choice! |
Here in Cameroon,
gin and whiskey are available in sachets! How about that? You can have that sip
of yours so literal. They come in 5cl sachets and are available as cellphone loads are in the Philippines. For what I have observed, the workers in manual labors, but not limited to, are
the base consumers of these products. So it should not be a surprise to see a
worker who in the middle of construction would time and again sip a sachet of
gin or whiskey that can be kept in his pocket. What more, it’s affordable!
And because it comes in cacao or coffee flavor, that would keep them roused –
the kind that can see them through ‘til their labor is over. Thinking home, it might also be good alternative for our call center agents to keep them awake as they have to keep our economy floating until the wee hours of the night. Because it smells like coffee, that might not be too much cause of suspicion to manong guard. In any case, just cover the smell with that of a cigarette. The last time I check, it is prohibited to enter the office with a smell of liquor on, en lieu of perfume.
By far, I have
seen four brands of these spirits in sachets, and there could be more. There is that royal King Arthur
who can be at par, of course this is an exaggeration, with its bottled gin counterparts. There is Lion d’Or who can be an alternative over
a cup of coffee (another exaggeration) as it is café infused,
enough to keep your nerves awake. Do not ask me if they could be better alternatives healthwise also. They are also available on their localized
names Djaraba (I still have to find out
what this means) and Sambuca (and
this, too) who proudly display their being rhum au café naturel.
For now, these products are not yet available in the Philippines (the last time I know) and I do not know if there will ever be anyone who wishes so. So my friend Daive, who is celebrating his birthday, could settle on these spirits' bottled version. Whatever the case be, it will surely be a Happy Birthday! A great celebration of friendship, of life!
But of course, in bottles as in sachets, Drink Moderately remains to be a
battlecry. In this matter, one sachet after another will do.
On a wait: Red Horse in sachet, if not in capsule!
I stepped on the escalator, took my
jacket off, and walked few steps as I made my way out of the door. It
was for me just another afternoon, or so I first thought. I thought it
was just another end of my shift where the moment I stepped out of the
building where I worked, is a taste of freedom, a refreshment of a tired
body. I thought I would just cross the street with equally bored and
tired climbers of the corporate ladder to hail a bus that would bring me home where I would then force myself to sleep. I was wrong.
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