Anjali, 19, is like any other college-going girl-bright and chirpy. Behind this facade, however, lies her battle with the bottle. In simple terms, she is an alcoholic. What started as a ‘fun’ experiment has now made her dependent on liquor.

A regular at party circuits, 40-year-old Ramita comes from an affluent family and is also dealing with the problem of alcoholism. The occasional social drinking has taken a toll on her health. Her husband, who wants to help her, is apprehensive of the issue becoming ‘public’ even as Ramita continues with her drinking binges.

It is no longer men who are fighting the addiction of the bottle. Sadly, women too are dealing with the problem, albeit many still prefer to remain in the closet.

With the number of women walking in at the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) increasing over the past three years, members of the group are ringing the alarm bells.  

“Earlier there were hardly any women approaching us with the problem of alcoholism. But in the past few years, our help-groups have witnessed a large number of women members. We have about five to six women coming to us for therapy every month,” said Sanjay, a member of the association. The male figures stand at 50 every month on the average.  

A look at the demographic profile springs a few surprises. While two out of six-odd women are housewives, the remaining are young girls. All of them, however, belong to either the middle or upper middle class sections of the society.

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