on Tuesday, January 10, 2006


CAN Conquer CANcer initiative

CANCER - CAN Survive IT

Students admired her,her son and husband adorned her,neighbours liked spending time with her,today all of them have supported her to fight "CANCER", she is ready to face it uttering a hindi quote "Zindagi Badi Nahi Lambi Honi Chahiye"..very true. (Life shouldn't be big but long..te be more precise its not the how long you live but how you live).This is a true life story..

She felt some kind of an irritation in her throat, thought because of pollution(lives in the suburbs of mumbai and if you open her windows you can see is thick fumes emitted by the four wheelers running on the main road). This continued for months together. She found it difficult to give lectures that lasted for more than half an hour. She had consult her family doctor, who prescribed cough syrups but the ordeal did not end there. Now,there was difficulty in swallowing a morsal of food. She went ahead and underwent a CT scan. The unexpected, there was silence and that said everything..SILENCE SPEAKS...She was suffering from LUNG CANCER third stage and she would hardly survive for six months,questions were raised about her food habits or whether she had any family history of cancer patietnts(I am not sure whether cancer is hereditory),but god had something in store for her. Her son who accompanied her to the Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel in Mumbai was dumbstuck. She hugged him and said its all part of game."Everybody doesn't hit a century in a game, I won't be able to play a long innings but i guess the innings that is on till today was helpful to the team i believe and would be helpful till i don't get bowled. I am ready to face that wicket taking delivery.Everyone has to face it". She pointed towards a child who was hardly 5 yrs and said "I am luckier than her" Let me try hitting fours and sixes, the team would be benefitted. Months passed by and death was inevitable but you could find Rajam as cheerful as she was. The only change in her days schedule was that she had to quit her teaching profession,which was difficult for her. But the chemos and the radiation made her weak. But the smile was still there, Neighbours, Well-wishers, students, visited her everyday and they were surprised to see her cheerful. She attended cancer programmes conducted by various NGO's in the city and spread the word of combatting this dreadful disease. Her motto was to make them believe that "you live everyday for a day" and then cancer wouldn't dare look at you. Her fate is already decided, she is ready to face it, but when is she going to face that wicket taking delivery is in my mind. But her life and words would be an inspiration for millions of people across the world.

At the end of the day I am proud to say that I am her student.