Alcoholics Anonymous Pune Completes 50 Years; Golden Jubilee to Reach Out to Professionals on 5th July
A special morning session at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, Swargate, invites doctors, psychiatrists, police officers, lawyers, social workers and other professionals to discover how Alcoholics Anonymous can be a resource in their everyday work with those affected by alcoholism.
Pune, June 2026 — Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) in Pune completes fifty years in July 2026. To mark this historic milestone, the Pune Fellowship will host its Golden Jubilee Celebration on Sunday, 5th July 2026, at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, Swargate, Pune. The first half of the day — a morning session from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM, followed by lunch — is dedicated to the professional community.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship of people who share their experience, strength and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. Founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, A.A. today has over two million members in more than 180 countries. There are no dues or fees for membership; the fellowship is entirely self-supporting through the voluntary contributions of its own members.
This programme is aimed primarily at professionals who, in the course of their work, come into contact with people struggling with alcohol — in clinics, hospitals, courtrooms, police stations, workplaces, counselling rooms and places of worship. These are often the very places where A.A. itself is not present. Through an informed professional, a suffering alcoholic may be reached who might otherwise never find the programme — or may be reached far sooner. A simple referral to A.A. can be a life-changing event for someone caught in the grip of alcoholism. The intent of the celebration is to spread awareness of Alcoholics Anonymous so that professionals may use A.A. effectively as a resource for those they serve.
The invitation to the professional community is for the first half of the day only. It opens with a brief session on the History of Alcoholics Anonymous, followed by Shri D. B. Mahajan — a non-alcoholic who has worked alongside Alcoholics Anonymous for the past 40 years. The session then features Dr. Ashish Deshpande, a well-known psychiatrist who has cooperated with Alcoholics Anonymous successfully for over 20 years, sharing his experience of working with the fellowship. Dr. Deshpande's earlier appearance on the national television programme Satyameva Jayate brought a wave of alcoholics to A.A.'s doors across India — many of whom live sober lives today, a testament to the power of a single professional's cooperation with A.A.
Alcoholics Anonymous arrived in Pune through the dedication of one man. A member named Silvester received the message of Alcoholics Anonymous in Mumbai and carried it to Pune in 1974. For two years, from 1974 to 1976, he waited patiently for a single alcoholic to come to him — while spending his days carrying the message of hope to alcoholics across various parts of the city. Silvester dedicated his life to spreading the message of A.A. He was the founding member of Alcoholics Anonymous in Pune, and in 1976 he started the “Mother Group”, the founding group of the Pune Fellowship. Today, fifty years on, A.A. meetings are held every single day in multiple parts of Pune city. The full schedule of meetings for the day is available at www.aapune.org.
Even today, countless alcoholics continue to suffer from the disease of addiction, unable to find a way out. They want to stop, but cannot find the path. Yet hundreds of thousands of alcoholics across the world have been able to stop drinking and rebuild their lives after coming to Alcoholics Anonymous. The Golden Jubilee is, above all, an invitation to help carry that message of hope to those who need it most — so that they too may live a free, happy and contented life.