Docs office hit

The Bombay Drug Deaddiction Centre of Excellence along with the Department of Psychiatry G S Seth Medical College amp KEM Hospital and Alcoholics Anonymous more commonly known by its acronym AA held a seminar called lsquoRoad To Recovery An International Experiencersquo on Sunday evening The threehour long seminar was held at the MLT Hall College Building Parel Special guest Aamir Khan stole the thunder amidst plenty of heartfelt accounts of the pain of an alcoholic and trying to understand and become aware of the different ramifications physical social and economic of this disease With young medical students and visiting women Aamir Khan played the charmer with consummate ease PicSayed Sameer Abedi International The focus was on lsquoFemale Alcoholics and Functioning Alcoholicsrsquo While the former is selfexplanatory the latter means alcoholics who are still workingfunctioning seemingly normal and many do not even know they are alcoholics They are the ones who have not hit rock bottom as yet The lsquointernational experiencersquo label came because the seminar wrapped up a visit by 89 recovering women alcoholics mostly from Australia and New Zealand with a smattering from other countries These women are all AA members and had been in India since January 13 to share their stories with other women alcoholics and to spread awareness about the disease One must stress the disease aspect as it was drummed in repeatedly that alcoholism is a disease not a disgrace Louise Dunne and Dr Vanda Rousenfell Episode While Aamir Khan was yet to make an entry in flesh lsquonrsquo blood he appeared on screen as the alcoholism episode from his television show Satyamev Jayate was beamed for the audience The foreign women peered at the English subtitles as the programme was in Hindi First up Dr Kranti Kadam illustrated through slides the magnitude of the alcoholism problem in India Her presentation focussed on figures and she ended with a telling statement about what she dubbed as the lsquoCost of Alcoholrsquo She said that though the sale of alcohol is a revenue spinner there are intangible costs to the society like physical deterioration of the individual and social problems Dr Kadamrsquos presentation was a mix of urban and rural society and she ended with telling the audience that now is the time to take a call about tackling alcoholism She ended with a rousing rendition of lsquohum honge kamyaabrsquo we will succeed Dr A Deshpande at the mike with from left Dr H Udawat Dr S Parkar Aamir Khan and Fr J Pereira Challenging A Class lsquoArsquo trustee nonalcoholic member of AA Australia social health worker Louise Dunne who has worked in hospitals spoke about how women felt it was especially challenging to share the truth about their drinking with workers and felt less shame and embarrassment when they shared their stories with others in AA ldquoAs professionals we have a vital role to play but we are limited in terms of time and resources AA complements the work we do In AA alcoholics donrsquot feel separate We offer shortterm support but AA offers longterm supportrdquo she said to applause Denial Indian woman alcoholic Heena AA member said that her sobriety date the day she stopped drinking was October 24 2009 ldquoI was 15 years into recovery when I saw Satyamev Jayate My husband too was an alcoholic and I was in denial about my drinking I used to think that I am the one running the house I have a successful career and I cannot be an alcoholic When my husband lost his job I used to drink to combat the stress But I came into AA and now since I have been sober I have noticed that not just my health but also my selfesteem has improved I lead a guiltfree life I remember once when somebody posted a message on my Facebook page saying lsquoCongrats You are sober for two yearsrsquo and I was ashamed not proudrdquo With her account Heena broadly summed up the situation of the Indian woman alcoholic saddled with shame and guilt and many times in denial about the problem Family It is not just the alcoholic but the families of alcoholics too who suffer Nitya a member of AlAnon a support group for families of alcoholics spoke about the burden of facing society with an alcoholic husband Nitya spoke about how she thought her husband was lsquocoolrsquo as he drank and partied during their dating years but realised the extent of his drinking only after marriage ldquoThen my life focused on how to stop him from drinking everydayrdquo At this juncture Aamir entered the auditorium to claps cheers and whistles Nitya had to wait till the excited audience settled down Aamir listened intently to a candid enthralling account ldquoI became a person filled with hate negativity and anger I used to beat my eightmonthold child in frustration I became a physical and mental wreck because I could not control his drinking I had no family relationships I used to think whether I am the cause of his drinking I even once made a lsquobarlikersquo atmosphere in my home so that my husband could only drink at home and not shame me by his uncontrolled drinking outside Then I found AlAnon and learned about the three Cs I am not the cause of his drinking I cannot cure it I cannot control it Today I am more positive have a changed personality and different attitude I continue to go to AlAnon while my alcoholic husband is in AArdquo Junkie While the compere claimed that Nityarsquos account was a testament to the power of support groups a senior AA member said ldquoWomen alcoholics battle tremendous stigma and as a society we are closed to the problem so society has to be more openrdquo Padmashri Joe Pereira of Kripa Foundation said ldquoWe come in only to get this person to become aware that he is loved he is lsquonotrsquo a junkie but a lsquogoodrsquo personrdquo Fr Pereira claimed that ldquoWomen alcoholics are a silent majorityrdquo and added perhaps tsk tsk not in very Frlike language that the ldquoAustralian women have given us a Maradonalike kick in our buttsrdquo to acknowledge and address the problem Cultural It was Dr S Parkar deputy Dean KEM Hospital who said that women alcoholics are ldquoRejects This is a cultural issue For a male alcoholic there is a mother wife sister or daughter to bring him to the hospital There is no son husband father or brother for a woman alcoholic who can take her for treatment with the same intensity and regularity Within the family and outside they are rejects in every sense of the wordrdquo An Australian woman AA member Karen who has been sober for 22 years spoke about her story and evoked laughs when she said ldquoI like to quote from a Tshirt that had the lines lsquoAlcohol gave me the answersrsquo And then in small type below that was written lsquoAlcohol made me forget the questionsrsquo Karen spoke about shame guilt and remorse and added like many others ldquoI never knew I was an alcoholicrdquo She spoke about building walls around herself till she let AA in and found love acceptance and hope Most importantly Karen said that ldquoThere is not that much difference between India and Australia Even in Australia women hide in their homes and drinkrdquo Karenrsquos story echoed Class lsquoArsquo trustee Dr Vanda Rousenfellrsquos belief that ldquothe countries may be different but the stories are pretty much the samerdquo Experimentation The programme anchor warned that ldquothe age of experimentationrdquo is coming down and gastroenterologist Dr H Udawat claimed ldquoThere are 13yearold children dying of oral cancer I exhort parents to be a little suspicious at timesrdquo Meanwhile the seminar was interrupted by an uproar Aamir Khan left the podium to answer the call of nature and people thought he was leaving The media cameras in tow nearly tripped over each other to catch the actor and there was a flutter till the compere reassured people that Aamir would be coming back Whew The price of fame When one cannot even pee in peace Meanwhile psychiatrist and AA friend Dr A Deshpande made a case for a ward for women alcoholics ldquoToday they are put into a psychiatric ward or a general female ward which does not suit the purpose Let us push forward the agendardquo Then a senior AA member put it succinctly when he said to loud cheers ldquoThere is an lsquoAArsquo in your name Aamir What we could not do in our 50 plus years in India your 62minute episode didrdquo He claimed that ldquoPost that episode AA got 300 calls a day and till today the phones have not stopped ringingrdquo Moralistic After that it was dial A for Aamir and the actor Ghajini muscles straining through his blackchecked tshirt got up to speak As requests of Hindi Hindi flew through the air Aamir said he would speak in English ldquoFor the foreign women here they too should understand what I have to say Then maybe I can speak in Hindi for you who want thatrdquo he said to the television crew Aamir said he was thrilled about the response the alcoholism episode generated but he was equally impressed about how the AA had responded by setting up call centres to pick up and address all those calls pouring in He said to the women from overseas ldquoI thank you for coming here With women alcoholics in India the problem may be even more complex because it also becomes a moralistic issue so it is important that somebody comes here to give them the strength and courage My episode on alcoholism had not touched upon women alcoholics and functioning alcoholics Maybe we can think about that sometime in the future I know some of my friends they are functioning alcoholics Just because they seem to work well they may be in stronger denial They may not know they have a problem but if they address it they can lead better lives because everything is not about success And all you lovely ladies there thanks for coming to Indiardquo Cameras Then Aamir told the press ldquoAbhi Hindi mein bolta hoonrdquo He then proceeded to read out help line numbers for those who think they should seek help for alcohol problems telling the camera men ldquoLet it roll roll karordquo in actor mould Finally the aati kya Khandala man left the dais and went up to sit amongst the young medical students who were not really very doctorly but shrieked like giggly teenagers as the star climbed through the rows to sit amongst themu00a0 With the bodyguards a little hassled at Aamirrsquos impromptu decision to sit amongst the students and general confusion all around the curtains fell on a meet which sought to educate and enlighten with a dash of Bollywood glamour thrown in u00a0The IndiaOverseas experience showed that women have lots in common Dr A Deshpande had put it earlier ldquoYou all must have heard about Doctors without Borders but we have Alcoholics Without Bordersrdquo giving the problem a global dimension Addicts are realising that they are not alone in unity and sharing there is strength to break the vicelike grip the bottle has them inu00a0 Dial H for Help A special hotline has been created for women alcoholics This is a national help line 022 23016767 A general help line for those who think they need help with their drinking problem 09022771011 There is also a line for AlAnon or families of alcoholics who need a support group Call 09321271122