Alcoholics Anonymous will celebrate its 25 years of initialising, establishing and successfully running, a fellowship programme which has breathed new life into myriad twigs, trampled and trashed by the society because they were suffering from an ailment which only brought them scorn but no respite.
Sanjeev K, Secretary, welcome group of Alcoholics Anonymous says every face has a story to tell, because over the period of time and with their association with Alcoholic Anonymous programme, they have learned that accepting their past was the best tonic which has shaped them up spiritually and made them strong enough to fight the devil within.
One of the former alcoholic, who is now sober for the past thirteen year, recounted his tale of agony and on condition of anonymity said, “Every time a person visits us and sobers up in course of our meetings, I am reminded of my victory over the bottle I once gulped down to my wretchedness.”
He said, “I was 12 at that time. I had never imagined that my odyssey is going to be so horrifying and scary that it will have a toll, both on my body and my soul. I only knew how to uncork the bottle but not to fix it.”
His encounter with alcohol was through the pages of diaries published by the Mohan Meakins group, a liquor brewing company, where Mirza Ghalib’s couplets, coupled with attractive pictures of liquor products initiated him into the world of intoxication. It was only with the support of the Alcoholics Anonymous members that he finally succeeded.
It was a man from Chennai, sobered up long back, who brought this American way of fighting alcoholism to the City Beautiful, where strangers meet to discuss their woes, associated with a common evil alcohol, and become life support for each other to fight their worst nightmare, alcoholism.
Some say its hearing therapy, other attribute it to spiritual enunciation that occurs during the meeting and many believe that its realisation of ones mistake. But whatever it is, it helps to treat alcoholism, added Sanjeev.
With time more members are joining in and the brotherhood is expanding, with more and more lives being saved from the brink of extinction due to alcoholism. However, our work is far from over as alcohol is still out there and till the time it is there, we know someone out there is loosing a daily battle and as a group it is our duty to stand beside that person, say the members in unison.
Sanjeev says alcoholism is a disease which one should recognise like diabetes and other life style diseases. Due to lack of awareness, most of the time an alcoholic is looked down by the society and at a point of time rejected. Alcoholics Anonymous only provides support to such persons and make them realise their ailment and its cause, because we have been there and done that, he added.
The former alcoholic further added that his family tried all means to fix it. Alcoholism led him to a dilapidated state, when he started frequenting the hospitals. However, liquor was smuggled in water bottles to his ward and eventually due to addiction he developed a temporal space abscess which required a surgery.
Recalling his horrid state, he said, “Pale and weak, I was attired as a bride with an autoclaved olive green gown, head shaved and taken to the operation theater. An emergency new admission postponed the wedding. Now me telling my ‘Me’, ‘Gods want me to drink.”
“I gave a pass to my parents, got up from my operation theater trolley and like an ignited rocket, rushed to the parking lot. I could see my father far away screeching for me. But in the next ten minutes I hit the liquor vend, where credit was the hallmark for daily passengers. Sick, bald and attired in an OT gown with upper strings open, I was subject of laugh for few in the tavern, such was my condition,” he added.
After hitting many rock bottoms, this alcoholic came to know about the AA fellowship programme, where he met people who did not abhor him. Here no one ever passed an order or forced him to change. All they did was to share their story, which ultimately brought back his lost confidence and made him realise that alcohol is his worst enemy.
He said, “The moment of truth came and two gentlemen welcomed me outside the gate where a meeting was to commence and led me inside. In time, they were around 20 plus. The person on chair specially welcomed me and asked the attendees to share their experience, strength and hope for me. The emphasis was on one day at a time.”
The seed was sown. After the meetings, hands joined for prayers and here was a collective appeal, ‘Keep coming back’. They made me their own, their brother in pain. But still my ordeal continued for the next three years. It was after a final battle with the self that I shelved that bottle only to be sober for the next 13 years.
There are many such stories but one thing that is common is the victory over alcoholism, adds Sanjeev. Since its inception and throughout its journey of 25 years, we have sobered up many alcoholics but what encourages me most is their present, which is free from the bondage of alcohol, a happy and healthy life.
The fellowship is going to celebrate their silver jubilee on December 1, at Carmel Convent School. This is a public awareness program, said Sanjeev. We want to reach out to all those alcoholics who are fighting their lost battle in solitude and help them win with the support of our brotherhood because we want to thrive as a group adding a smile to those lives which have been lost in oblivion due to alcohol.