“There is much greater awareness around alcoholism now”

Has there been a change in your village over the last year?

Compared to last year, a lot more people are aware of the problem of alcoholism and want to bring change. They see the damage it causes and the good examples of people like me who have recovered. Almost every day people come to my house for help.

What do you tell them?

I tell them about my experience. How I became very ill because of alcoholism; how I received the message I had to change; how I got medication; and then how I was advised to join an AA group - because I was told that if I wanted to remain sober I had to change my mind-set.

I don’t make them any promises of a full recovery because once you are an alcoholic, you remain an alcoholic to the day you die. However, I tell them they can control it with the help of a higher power and the AA. Then I offer to take them to an AA meeting.

Do you have any idea how many people you have referred to AA?

We do not keep records. But when I brought somebody to the TTK Hospital in Chennai recently [TTK is a specialised de-addiction centre in Chennai for the most serious cases, eds.] they told me this is the 36th person I have brought from this area over the past few years. And 85% of these people are still sober.

Do you think the alcohol awareness day in Edayanchavady made a difference?

I think the Thamarai people did a fantastic job. The acting was so good it felt like a real situation, so much so that three AA members, including myself, began crying because we recognised our own stories. I had never seen something like this before in my village. People stayed to the very end, and they were very silent, very attentive.

I know of more than four people who stopped drinking because of that day. Also, after seeing this, many young people from other places asked us to do this in their villages.

How many AA meetings are taking place in this area now?

Overall, we now have 10 meetings a week in different places, which include Pondicherry. Every day I go to a meeting in one of these places. Now we are going to start another AA meeting

in the Village Action office. I also do counselling twice a week in the Government Hospital in Pondicherry. There is also a weekly AA meeting in Auroville, attended by both villagers and Aurovilians.

Is alcoholism also a problem in Auroville?

It’s a serious problem here, and it is growing worse. I am ashamed to say this but we should not keep hiding it.

Why do people drink here?

Here we don’t have people who will tell us to stop; we are too loose. In the village, people tend to stay in the family house but in Auroville young people move very easily from one house to another, so it is difficult to control them.

Is it more a problem with younger Aurovilians?

Yes. They buy from the nearest village bar then go to drink in the forest. It affects all cultures, but it is the same pattern as in the village: they start drinking because they are encouraged to do so by their friends.

What can be done?

What is missing in Auroville is a rehabilitation facility. It could be a simple, private place where people could go to be treated. TTK have said they can send their councillors and doctors to train us, but the most important thing is that this place should be full of care and love.

The Auroville schools should also run an awareness programme about alcoholism for the students, explaining what happens to the body and mind and how it becomes a disease. And the teachers need to heed the warning signs. I am alive today because the teachers at Transition School saw that my kids were turning up late for class and realised that their father had an alcohol problem.

The big political parties in Tamil Nadu say they are going to bring in prohibition if elected. Do you think this will solve the problem?

No. It will only make the situation worse because alcoholics will always find a way of getting a drink and they will start drinking the poisonous country liquor instead. One thing I am happy about is that there is greater awareness about the problem among the political parties. Now they say they want to help people by providing treatment facilities, not just to stop them drinking. This is new.

There are very few such facilities at present, and all are private and expensive. But the work of the best of them is beginning to be appreciated. Two months ago, the Chief Minister gave an award to Shanthi Ranganathan, Honorary Secretary of TTK Hospital, in recognition of their work.