A Geographic 'Cure'

ON A RECENT trip to New York from Manila, I stopped in Bombay for several days and was able to attend a number of AA meetings and meet our fellow AAs there. It was a wonderful experience. Throughout all of Asia, it is in Bombay that Alcoholics Anonymous has taken root most firmly so far. There are about fifty-five groups in the city and its environs, and the Fellowship is continuing to grow. From my first meeting, I felt at home. A spirit of friendliness, concern, and care pervaded the meetings and was evident in many of the people I met. For example, after a meeting one evening, I was invited along on a Twelfth Step call by a man who had eighteen years of sobriety and was as enthusiastic as a newcomer. The call lasted until about 11:30 PM--although he had to get up for work in the morning, while I could sleep in. I recall, too, the businessman with about eight years of sobriety, whose serenity and sense of gratitude to the program were so apparent as he carried the message to other parts of India while on his business trips. There were many others--people of vastly different backgrounds and religions, but united in their love for Alcoholics Anonymous. I got the impression in Bombay that here was just good, solid AA--with the recovered alcoholics to prove it. The program works in India as it does in New York, Sydney, the Philippines, wherever.