About AA

What is AA?

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who come together to solve their drinking problem. It doesn't cost anything to attend AA meetings. There are no age or education requirements to participate. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking problem.

AA's primary purpose is to help alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

How AA Works

Members use the Twelve Steps to maintain sobriety. Groups use the Twelve Traditions to stay unified.

AA's Twelve Steps are a set of spiritual principles. When practiced as a way of life, they can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to recover from alcoholism.

The Twelve Traditions apply to AA as a whole. They outline how AA maintains its unity and relates itself to the world around it.

The book “Alcoholics Anonymous” describes the AA program of recovery. It also contains stories written by the co-founders and stories from a wide range of members who have found recovery in AA.

Who Are AA Members?

We are people who have discovered and admitted that we cannot control alcohol. We have learned that we must live without it to live normal, happy lives.

We are not anti-alcohol and we have no wish to reform the world. We are not allied with any group, cause or religious denomination. We welcome new members, but we do not recruit them.

We do not impose our experience with problem drinking on others, but we do share it when we are asked to do so. We know our own sobriety depends on connecting with other alcoholics.

History of AA in India

We are grateful that since the time AA Fellowship was established in India, we are able to record quite accurately the history of the Fellowship. Though there are no regular records as most of the early meetings were informal, it is definite that in 1957 Harry M., a school teacher by profession, was the first person in India to stop drinking and gain lasting sobriety through the spiritual principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. He stopped drinking on 5th May 1957, and hence that date is nationally acknowledged as the “Founders Day” in India.

While photocopies of letters written by various persons during the years 1956, 1957 and 1958 hardly indicate any references to Harry M., there is no doubt as to how the AA message first came to India. A Canadian named Charley M. was posted by his employers to the Canadian Embassy at New Delhi. Prior to his coming to India, Charley wrote to our co-founder, Bill W., informing that he was being sent to New Delhi and “naturally I would like to keep up my AA activities, and if there are any contacts there that I can get in touch with, I would surely welcome the opportunity”.

The reply from the General Service Office, N.Y. gave the contact names of Sylvia M. and Suppatti M. In 1956, Sylvia M. was being treated by Dr. D'Netto, a psychiatrist attached to the Indian Navy, who then was a Surgeon Lieut. and later retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in the Indian Naval Medical Services.

It was Dr. D'Netto who had advised Sylvia M. to contact G.S.O. New York from New Delhi. That is how G.S.O. New York was able to give the contact addresses of Sylvia M. and Suppatti M. to Charley M. Confirmed correspondence indicates that Charley M. arrived in New Delhi on 12th January 1957 and was able to locate Sylvia M. and Suppatti M. within a week. He then began to give “ads” in local newspapers offering help to those with a drinking problem. It was through one of these “ads” that Harry M. responded, which enabled him to call on Charley M. personally in New Delhi.

A letter from G.S.O., New York to Charley M. dated 5th March 1957 said, “Thanks so much for your letter dated 24th February 1957 and the enclosed registration card for the New Delhi Group”. This indicates that an AA group was started in New Delhi in early February 1957. Harry M. spent some days with Charley M. at Delhi learning about the disease of alcoholism and the program and spiritual principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.

He returned to Mumbai armed with the literature given to him and stopped drinking from 5th May 1957 till his untimely sober demise on 5th June 1967.

History of AA in Pune

Alcoholics Anonymous arrived in Pune through the dedication of one man. A member named Silvester received the message of Alcoholics Anonymous in Mumbai and carried it to Pune in 1974. For two years, from 1974 to 1976, he waited patiently for a single alcoholic to come to him — while spending his days carrying the message of hope to alcoholics across various parts of the city.

Silvester dedicated his life to spreading the message of AA. He was the founding member of Alcoholics Anonymous in Pune, and in 1976 he started the “Mother Group”, the founding group of the Pune Fellowship.

The General Service Office

The General Service Office started its services on 5th May 1987. The General Service Office serves as a hub of communication for AA groups in India, and as an exchange point for AA experience accumulated over the years. GSO staff coordinate a wide array of activities and services.

AA literature is the lifeblood of the Fellowship. Translating original US Conference-approved literature from English into various Indian languages, subjecting the translations to scrutiny, getting approvals from AAWS Inc., printing, distributing, and reprinting — these form the most vital services of the General Service Office.