Oye happy, happy oye!

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TIME Magazine named “Internet” as the greatest invention ever. Did they forget “Happy Hours”? reads a youngster’s status message on Facebook. There are tons like him, who swear by ‘Happy Hours’, when restaurants, pubs and lounges in cities, offer a ‘buy one get one drink free’ or a 50 per cent off on beverages. College students, who can’t always afford to shell out big bucks on drinks, make maximum use of these hours.
Says BBM student Jason Rego, “Buying one drink and getting another free makes sense to students who don’t get too much pocket money. Sometimes, they even have 50 per cent off on drinks. In most places, they get over by evening, it would make sense it was at night. We visit this particular place that offers happy hours on Wednesday nights. We go there at least twice a month.” When they don’t have college or the lecturer hasn’t turned up, they head to enjoy affordable drinks.
For student of Christ University, Abhishek Govardhan and his friends, any cricket, football or F1 game calls for a session of happy hours! “But I don’t like the timing in Bengaluru. It shuts by 8 pm. I’ve gone for happy hours in Mumbai and Delhi. It’s really nice there as it goes on till 11 pm. Also, the menus are different there. They give pitchers of an entire cocktail! If it shuts down by 8 pm, there’s no point hitting a club after happy hours.” His group heads out every weekend for their drinking sessions. They ensure that at least three of them are sober as they have to drive back home. “We take turns in staying sober. We don’t drink and drive. When it’s my turn to drive, I’d go in for mocktails (which are part of the happy hours offer too),” says Abhishek.
Another student who indulges in happy hours at least once a week is Bobby A. “It makes sense to go to a place where the drinks are usually costly and out of reach for college students. Thanks to Happy Hours, even we get to drink at these expensive places.”
They usually keep a designated driver to drive back home. “Mostly, it’s me ‘cos I have a car and I don’t like anyone else driving it! But the integral part is drinking and driving is risky and people shouldn’t do it,” says Bobby, whose drinking gang consists of lots of girls too. “The sad part is most sessions end by 6 or 8, but the good part is as students, who are usually confined to lower quality drinks, we get drinks of good quality. In Mumbai, there are a lot more places that have happy hours. Pune is a good place too,” says Bobby, who has experienced happy hours in Goa, Chennai and Delhi too.
If you want to have a drinking session with your friends during and make yourself ‘oye happy’, make sure you’re above 18 and also don’t drink and drive.