No fizzy drinks for me today. If you’ve scrolled through Instagram or TikTok and heard this line you are not alone. It’s become the catchphrase of one the internet’s most unlikely celebrities: Melbourne man and father of one, Rohit Roy.
Roy is a former fizzy drink addict. Every day, he uploads a video where he’ll provide an update on his life, share advice and thank his supporters, all sandwiched by the phrase “no fizzy drinks for me today.” In his videos, he speaks candidly about the effect that his addiction had on his friends, family and mental and physical health.
With the internet being a place of gross excess and endless irony, Roy’s sincerity cuts through like a lighthouse in a storm. Apart from having over 520,000 followers on TikTok and 120,000 followers on Instagram, Roy has had several profiles on mainstream media and continues to offer hope to our tired, lonely souls.
Honi sat down with Roy for a wide-ranging conversation on fame, fulfilment and of course, fizzy drinks.
When asked how his family reacted to his celebrity status, Rohit said that “they don’t care much about social media fame and all that.”
“They are happy that I am not having fizzy drinks and I am healthy as compared to before.”
At time of writing, Roy is 1227 days strong on his journey to abstain from fizzy drinks. Honi asked Roy if he was ever worried about having a fizzy drink and falling back into old habits.
Unlike the manufactured responses of influencers preaching antiseptic positivity, Roy was honest and refreshing in his answer. “If you follow my journey you know that I’m honest with everything. So I always, and as I said, even in my dreams, when I find out about fizzy drinks, I get scared and I wake up. And even in my dreams, I was ready to admit to people that I had a fizzy drink, if I had any.”
Roy’s journey has inspired and aided countless others who grapple with addiction, or simply want to make healthier decisions in their life. Like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders, Roy was frank about the responsibility that comes with having a platform, saying, “I know that I’m accountable for so many people looking at me, watching me, trying to get rid of their own addiction, it doesn’t matter if it’s a drink or alcohol, whatever smoking addiction they have.
“So because now many people count on me, I can’t simply just go back for the drinks first thing. And I don’t even feel like going back to myself as well. So, no cravings.”
Part of Roy’s appeal can be attributed to his young daughter Ira, who regularly features in his videos. Roy shared how fatherhood has impacted his life, “They used to tell me before, once you have kids, your life will change. But I didn’t listen to them until I became a father myself. But now I realise that what I have learned is, everything changes, priority changes, your whole focus shifts towards your kid.”
When asked if Ira would be allowed to have fizzy drinks — if at all — Roy said that he’s “not going to stop Ira having as many fizzy drinks as she wants.”
“So maybe when she grows a bit older, she can have her first fizzy drink… if she looks at fizzy drinks, she’s like, ‘what is that? I want to have it,’ I’ll buy one for her.”
Honi asked Roy about his youth, and lessons he has gained now which he would impart onto his younger self. Roy was, unsurprisingly, sagacious and full of perspective.
“First thing which I will say is, no regrets. Everything happens for a reason. So I can’t wish that I would have learned all that at 20 years of age. I don’t believe in that. Everything happens for a reason. You know what they say, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
Though Roy displayed an admirable acceptance for his life so far, he did emphasise that the most important thing he could have done was to look after his health.
“If you lose health, even if you have a million dollars, then your life will sort of stop…So health is wealth. That’s the best advice that I will give to my younger self.”
Though Roy was coy about specific details regarding his youth (understandably), he told us about his favourite music as a young man. When asked about his favourite bands, Roy said, “Bomfunk MC’s, Freestyler.”
“I liked listening to music at that time as well and liked English songs because English is not our first language in India, Hindi is our language… So all the new albums which used to come, I used to listen to them, even read the lyrics while listening to them to understand what they are saying and all those sort of things.
“So these are the two things I really liked at that time, music and fizzy drinks.”
Roy said that his fizzy drink addiction started at a young age, and although he continues to abstain from fizzy drinks, he admits that he still has a few guilty pleasures.
“I don’t restrict myself. I do eat everything, even the things which we considered unhealthy, but obviously I have them in a limit. For example, I have pizza, I have fried chicken, I have pasta.
“I have all those things which are considered unhealthy and that’s like a treat for myself, but very limited, like maybe once a month or once a fortnight or something like that.”
In times as dire as the ones we live in now, there are often few things which are uplifting without qualification. Honi itself is built on a disdain for the status quo, and it exists implicitly to be oppositional and cynical about the way things are. However, there is always room to smile and laugh, to spread the warmth that we hold and share it with others. Nobody does this better than a humble man from Melbourne.
“I would like to thank everyone first of all, and for those people who have addiction, all I can say is believe in yourself, and you can start your own journey, because we all are more strong than we think and I was the least strong in mentality.
“So if I could do it, then anyone else can definitely do it.”
