THEY SAY evil lurks in the dark, little is said about the excitement and fun which happens when the sun has gone to rest.

During my campus days, I was a serial bar-hopper, going from one bar to another in search of fine women and wine.

I grew up in a Christian family and my childhood was boring and suppressed. When I reached puberty my dad took me to a seminary school where I was taught the virtue of waiting for true love and to work hard at my studies.

So, I went through secondary school like a catholic priest, the only memories from high school were the hunger pangs that used to grip me at mid-day, and the debilitating joy I would feel when the bell rung for ‘Kalo’ (posho and beans).

As you can tell, I do not hail from a loaded family so, canteen wasn’t my thing. I was so ordinary that no one seemed to notice me, so what I would do at school was that I would queue for a meal, change clothes and return for double.

Time runs quickly and my form six results came out with me top of my class with 24 points. I was overwhelmed by emotions when I learnt that I was going to the Ivory Tower on full government scholarship. That day, I went and drunk a whole carton of ‘Liberty Waragi’ (a very potent local gin) with my friends and that was my initiation to the dark world of illicit liquor.

At campus, I sunk deeper and deeper into my addiction to booze. Sometimes I had no dime for booze so I would use my tuition money to parch my dry throat. The ramshackle bars around campus were my favourite hangout where I was treated with awe by the ladies who worked there.

So, I told girls at campus this lie: That I hailed from a loaded family and my family were connected to the first family and this got me free booze and ladies who would throw themselves on me with abandon. With the money from my government scholarship I had no problem taking them out.

The time for reckoning came when others were graduating and I was just nursing a hangover from terrible drinking binges.