Life is a package deal. If the proverbial cloud comes with a silver lining, it also comes with a catch, usually a catch-22. No wonder then that spirited celebration into the wee hours of the morning usually lands you with a leaden hangover the very same day. If the night made you feel on the top of the world, the glaring sunlight of the dawn makes you curse the day you were born. But don't panic. Help is at hand, just run to the experts and they are esoteric pharmacopoeia, guaranteed to get rid of the hangover. Or for you. Seema Kapoor, television actress:
She sleeps on and on, in the hope that when she wakes up, she will be feeling better. If that doesn't work, she either has lime juice or butter milk. And then promptly goes back to sleep.
Jules Fuller, GM,Channel [V]:
His formula for getting over a hangover is to have a Bloody Mary and a good brunch. This is followed by gentle strokes from head down. Any girl will do -- with a hangover beating at the doors of your brain, you are
hardly in a state to demand or care. But if the strokes do not work or if you cannot find yourself a masseur, then Fuller recommends the next best thing -- stay drunk! He is not one to advise bizarre remedies like raw eggs with a whiff of salt. "That is hideous and I won't even recommend it to my worst enemy. The best anti-hangover treatment is lots of tender loving care," he insists.
Hasina Jethmalani, housewife:
Her remedy is to sleep for at least 10 hours, no matter how busy that day's schedule might be. Then she wakes up and washes down two tablets of Panadol.
Shweta Shetty, pop diva:
Shweta's remedy is the same as the one she uses to get along with her husband -- Crocin. We caught her just as she was leaving for the airport and she was planning to take a Crocin tablet. One before she meets him and -- just to be sure -- one after she has met him.
Nikhil Chibb, chef:
He reacts in extremes. Either he wakes up with a clear head or completely drunk. If he wakes up completely
drunk, he just continues drinking. For a hangover though, he recommends a drink called Pick Me Up. The ingredients: a "wild tasting alcohol made from secret ingredients". The other option is cocktails. Have a Bloody Mary or Shangrila, take a siesta and by the evening you should be up and about.
Amitabh Nanda, film actor:
Don't wake up," is his clarion call. But if you have to, then here is the Nanda Hangover-Buster: Crack two eggs in a glass. Skin a fish (Bombil is the best bet) and crush the skin into the glass. Don't be shocked, because fish skin has folic acid, which apparently works against hangovers. Add orange juice and gulp the mixture in one go. Then take a nap. But film actor Nanda -- who is busy shooting Kailash Surendranath's Love You Hamesha -- adds a cautious footnote: "Either you will get up without the hangover or you won't get up ever again!" Any takers?
Aneesh Trivedi, CNBC anchor:
His modus operandi is to turn on the air conditioner, draw the curtains and go
back to sleep. Then wake up a couple of hours later and after tender ministrations from one you love, have a hearty meal of idli sambar! Wait! Trivedi is not a born-again South Indian. There is logic behind his tucking into idli sambar. He claims that the rice in the idli absorbs the alcohol content in the blood and the fiery sambar opens up your pores. After that cleansing, you can drink again!
Riyadh Wadia, film director:
He suggests drinking moderately, so that you don't begin to get a hangover. But Riyadh agrees that preaching is easier than practising. In his case, it is easy as he is a documentary film-maker and he never had enough money to go overboard on the booze. But if you do wake up with a hangover, have a hearty breakfast and drink a glass of French wine. Or mix two tablets containing sodium bicarbonate in an ocean of guava juice. Squeeze pomegranate juice and add three herbs (he insists that those three herbs are family secrets and he won't reveal their names even under a death
threat). Stir the concoction violently and bottoms up!
Arjun Khanna, designer:
He deals with his hangover by taking himself away from humanity. If he wakes up with a pounding head and a parched throat, he wants to be left alone to nurse his woes and pains. Then he gets down to his time-tested remedy that is custom-made for him. Khanna drinks a lot of orange juice and goes about wearing Oaklay's sunglasses. The brand name is critical. For some unknown reason, these particular shades help him get over the hangover -- fast.
Achla Sachdev, model:
Her idea is to have a glass of water between every glass of liquor. That ensures that she does not have a hangover. But if this remedy fails and she wakes up in the morning with a heavy head, she takes two sleeping pills and hits the sack again. Of course, after promising herself that she won't drink ever again!
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
