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Journey from bottom of the bottle to health and happiness

After suffering for four years, he was finally sent to a rehabilitation centre, where doctors directed him to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a group working for the people with a drinking problem.

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Naresh starts his day with a morning walk, followed by a healthy breakfast, and then he is off to work. He seems healthy and happy. Four years ago, however, if someone had met him, he would not have recognised the man.  

At the tender age of 16, a schoolmate introduced Naresh to alcohol, and there was no going back. He started drinking day and night, somehow hiding the habit from his parents, and soon he was a raging alcoholic. When money became an issue, he stole and sold off household goods such as fan, chair, remote, pressure cooker, and gas stove.“It started with one peg a day and soon I was gulping down 10 pegs daily. I had started to walk an extremely dangerous path. I was a bright student but just barely passed both Class X and XII board exams. I could see that my family was really worried, but nothing stopped me from drinking,” recalls Naresh, now 24.

After suffering for four years, he was finally sent to a rehabilitation centre, where doctors directed him to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a group working for the people with a drinking problem.

“I was not willing to go for any of the sessions. The first few sessions were torture. Everyone in the room was talking about their drinking habit and how they got into it. Slowly, I started listening to them and suddenly I could see my entire life. I realised how dark my future was and how I was making it worse. Then I began to open up,” says Naresh, who is now an AA volunteer himself.

AA is a global fellowship of men and women who once had a drinking problem. It is non-professional, self-supporting, non-denominational, apolitical, and services are available almost everywhere. There are no age or educational requirements to become a volunteer. Membership is open to anyone who wants to get rid of the habit.

There are more than 20 AA centres In India itself, where meetings for the alcoholics are organised.

“We advise people to come continuously for 90 days. We all sit together and share our experiences. We suggest a few ways to get rid of the habit. Not all manage to quit alcohol but there are great success stories as well,” says Shiv Sharma, another volunteer, who had first come to the centre to get help.

Delhi alone has more than 2,000 AA volunteers, who are now helping others.

Sharma was 27 when he first came to AA. He had lost his job due to excessive drinking. The loss of employment depressed him further and brought him closer to alcohol. Life had turned into hell.

“Both my younger brothers got married and I was just sitting in my room, consuming alcohol. I used to howl while drinking, but couldn’t stop myself,” he says. Finally, after attending 90 AA sessions of two hours each, Sharma found some peace. In fact, now not only is he earning well but is also happily married and is a father to a boy.

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