An English thought

In the early days of NA in Mumbai, meetings were held in English. A few non‑English-speaking members, who stubbornly stayed clean in this English-speaking atmosphere, would share in Hindi, a local language. Over a period of time, these few non-English-speaking members grew into large numbers. They began voicing their need to have meetings held in Hindi. Many members who previously shared only in English began to share in Hindi for the benefit of the newcomer. Some even spent time and energy to translate our literature from English into Hindi. Eventually, all meetings held in Mumbai were entirely in Hindi.

This caused a peculiar problem. English-speaking members went from being a majority to a minority at meetings in Mumbai. They found it difficult, while sharing in Hindi, to freely express their thoughts as they would in English. A need sprang up for a meeting exclusively in English for those members who thought, hoped, and dreamed in English. As soon as this need was identified, in a typical addict reaction, many members resisted. The irony of this resistance was that it did not come from non-English‑speaking members, for they understood the situation from their earlier experience in starting the Hindi-speaking meetings. Opposition was mainly from resistant English-speaking members, who voiced several reasons.

Some said that addicts identify with sharing from the heart, regardless of the language. Many reasoned that these meetings would not grow due to lack of support because, statistically, there are fewer English-speaking addicts in Mumbai. A handful of members who had a different perspective on the situation went to the extent of negating this idea by blaming it on “elitist” English-speaking members living in South Mumbai. When all arguments failed, as a final recourse, they screamed that NA unity was at stake. They claimed that an exclusively English-speaking meeting would cause disunity in the fellowship, but reasons given for how and why NA unity was at stake were blurred and obscure.

After many arguments, counterarguments, resistance, and doubt, an exclusively English-speaking meeting was started on 3 December 1996 at the YMCA in Colaba, South Mumbai. To this day, this meeting is held every Tuesday night. We call our meeting “A Ray of Hope.”

Nine years have passed since we started this meeting. It has not caused disunity, but instead has brought about more unity within the local NA community. By attending A Ray of Hope, English-speaking members experienced a feeling of belonging to the NA Fellowship. A few non-English-speaking members regularly attend the meeting to learn or brush up on their English. Following the success of our meeting, another English‑speaking meeting was started in Mumbai. Delhi, too, has an English-speaking meeting.

A Ray of Hope is a product of the love, openness, and empathy of its members. If you ever find yourself in South Mumbai, you are welcome to join us in our devotion.

Ivan, South Mumbai, India

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