By Santosh Digal
Mumbai: He had neither touched alcohol nor imagined that one day he would become a drunkard. But by 17, Raj Kumar (name changed) from Mangalore was tagged an alcoholic.
It all started with family business. He used to distill alcohol at home for sale.
“At any given time there would be 15 to 20 liters of arrack under my bed. But at time I never consumed any of this.”
His introduction to drinks began when he started to help prepare meals for neighborhood functions. He had his first drink with his friends just to test if “what I heard was true,” Kumar told Matters India.
He got jobs in a coffee estate in South Canara where he used to go on a binge with his friends.
By then he had stopped brewing liquor at home. So, he had to buy booze as the quantity of his consumption showed an upward curve.
When he was in Mangalore befriended a girl and all seemed heavenly. However, when he came to Mumbai for a job, she married another person.
“The news pushed me into depression. I began my day with drinks and I could not manage my life,” Kumar recalled.
In 2015, Kumar lost his mother and later he closed his canteen business after his partner cheated him. This led him to drink even more. It was at this time he found Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meetings. At one of these meetings he met another recovering addict who guided Kumar to Kripa (grace) Foundation started by Fr. Joseph Hilary Pereira, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mumbai.
Kripa foundation is an organization battling addiction and HIV/AIDS. It is the largest NGO working in the field of Rehabilitation of Chemical Dependency and HIV/AIDS with 65 facilities, in 11 states in India, 16 archdioceses and dioceses and six countries.
At Kripa Foundation, the first two months were a trying period for Kumar. “But after that I slowly began to understand the AA program and gave myself to it. I used to have recurring episodes of epileptic fit during my consumption days and was on medication for the same,” Kumar recounted.
Within two months, he was able to stop his medication. “I have not had fits since then. It was at this time that I had the good fortune of personally meeting with Fr. Pereira,” Kumar said.
Fr. Pereira convinced Kumar to stay with Kripa and help other addicts in recovery.
“It has been two years since I had my last drink. I used to be shunned by my family and friends during my alcohol consumption days. But I have regained my family members’ trust in me and am now close with them. I have regained my self-confidence. Thanks to Kripa and Fr. Pereira for giving me a new life and renewing me,” Kumar added.