Mrs. Vimal Kamath

Centre: Mrs. Vimal Kamath

October is supposed to be Breast Cancer awareness month so I thought I will share this inspiring story with you.

About 6/7 years back, Mrs. Vimal Kamath, then 77, a Breast Cancer survivor, got an International Award in Malaysia for the excellent work done by her NGO just a day or two before her only child, my friend Atul Kamath, died in USA  of a sudden heart attack. We were stunned a few days later to see this grand lady at our doorstep, asking for my help in bidding for hosting the next International Conference of Breast Cancer NGOs in India. In the next couple of weeks she roped in the 5/6 NGOs active in Mumbai in this field and got the backing of Tata Memorial Hospital. Dr. Rajan Badwe, now Director TMH and I were the only two men in the team which was required to put in a bid for hosting the conference in India against stiff competition from Japan, S. Korea, China and Taiwan.

With almost no budgets, we created a practically zero cost (<$400) Video presentation to support our Bid which was to be evaluated by an International  team from Switzerland and Australia. Marathi Film and TV Star Sukanya Kulkarni gave her time gratis for the cause. Here it is:

The Video helped India win the bid and Mrs. Kamath as the Chairperson of the Organising Committee went on to very successfully host the Conference with representatives from over 80 countries attending–she was almost 80 by then I think. She has been in-and-out of hospitals of late with age related ailments but continues to lead her NGO with such gusto as would do someone twenty odd years junior like me proud. She has been a real source of inspiration and may she continue to do so for all around her for many many years.

And yes, dear lady readers above 40, it is time for the annual check-up.

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Cricket Without Rose Tinted Glasses

courtesy newsleaks.in

There have been many rose-tinted versions of cricket in the sixties in the last couple of days. This is an attempt to rectify that.

Cricket was then just coming out of the shadows of the Merchant-Hazare-Lala era. With hardly any money in the sport, it was natural that royalty played an important role. The prime example was Vizzy, Maharajkumar of Vijayanagaram, whose influence over the game was completely disproportionate to his ability as a cricketer. The mess that cricket was in was best exemplified by the ’58-’59 series against the West Indies in which we had four captains: Vinoo Mankad, Ghulam Ahmed, Polly Umrigar and Hemu Adhikari.

But ’59-’60 also saw the beginning of some major changes. Beating Australia in Kanpur was a huge thing but the real story in hindsight was the emergence of players like Contractor and Borde to support ‘seniors’ like Polly Umrigar and Vijay Manjrekar. Those were days with limited ambition. A batsman aspired to make a 40, which would ensure his place for 3 tests. A bowler aimed at bowling maidens.

Into this scenario walked in a rakish Nawab of Pataudi. He brought in a breath of fresh air with his fielding, his attractive if risk-laden batting and the ability to look a white man in the eye. Remember, those were the days when even a West Indies with 3Ws, Sobers and Kanhai thought only a white man like Alexander, much less talented than any of the others named, could be a Captain.

The Indian Cricket Board mind set, with the huge Vizzy influence, was not much different and this school of nobility-born-to-rule ensured the elevation of an inexperienced  Pataudi to Vice Captaincy for the West Indies tour. There was much heart-burning among seniors like Umrigar, Manjrekar and Borde, all three with more proven talent than the Nawab. And then fate took a hand by way of the Charlie Griffith bouncer which almost ruled Nari Contractor out of all cricket.

The Nawab went on to rule the Indian cricket for almost a decade. He evolved the 3 spinner strategy which certainly saved India some blushes. Apart from the spinners, he also got the backing of players like Jaisimha. But with the big guns like Manjrekar and Borde or the hugely talented Salim Durrani, it was always an uneasy co-existence.

The Board Selection Committee changed just before the West Indies tour of ’71. Commoner Vijay Merchant, perhaps resentful of his  being treated shabbily by the Board by making Pataudi Senior India Captain in days gone by, named Ajit Wadekar as the Captain, using his casting vote. Wadekar’s team had two key players: Dilip Sardesai, whose monumental 212 in the first test of the series must rank as the first game-changing innings of Indian cricket, and Sunil Gavaskar whose ambitions and ability went far beyond the one-40-in-3-matches norm of Indian cricket till then.

How did contemporary writers rate Pataudi as a Captain? Zonal cricket was big those days and people like Raju Bharatan held both Borde (W) and Jaisimha (S) in greater esteem as captains, with the latter ranking a notch higher for his flair for risk taking. Pity he never captained India.

So how does one summarise the contribution of the Nawab of Pataudi to Indian Cricket? For a man who played most of his cricket after the loss of one eye, his accomplishments as a batsman must rank as staggering, although the stats can’t bear comparison with even his contemporaries, leave alone the galaxy of 50+ averaging stars of today. As a captain, with the benefit of hindsight, one can say that the dice were loaded against him. To expect too much leadership or strategic acumen from a handicapped 21 year old thrown by fate into the deep end of the pool with some big sharks lurking around was extremely unfair, although he acquitted himself reasonably well. But most important of all, perhaps, was the way he forced international cricket powers to grudgingly grant Indians some cricketing space. That people like SMG then forced the cricketing world to treat India as an almost-equal is best left for another day.

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Best Time For Old Age

The thought of Old Age seems to scare a lot of people. It is a sort of a conditioned reflex we could do without in this day and age. Before coming to that, however, let us quickly attempt to define old age in conventional terms first. A 25 year may draw the line at 40 and a 75 year old might suggest 90. So your age + 15 or 20 years could be one reasonable definition of chronological old age. But is ‘Old Age’ just a function of time or are there other variables which can influence its onset?

Let us examine the source of fear first. Is it the whisper of Death? Yes and No. Both Gita and Common Sense suggest that worrying about the inevitable is pointless. Health? Of course. As organs and faculties start dimming and fading, some closer relationship with the medical fraternity is inescapable. Again, logic dictates that it needs to be compartmentalised rather than be made a bogey of. You will have to bear your share of it, so you might as well grin and do it.

That leaves the real killer. Loneliness This is the truly feared part of Old Age And yes, the many examples around, especially in these days of nuclear families, of the lonely watch of the ‘last bats(wo)man standing’ do little to allay the fears. The Terminal symptoms, or the variables mentioned earlier, of Old Age are easy to define for a layman:

• A person starts withdrawing inwards and starts losing interest in the outside world. ‘My world’ starts shrinking into ‘my locality’ ‘my family’ and ultimately to ‘me and my packet of biscuit’. 
 

• Loss of Laughter. Laughter truly is the best medicine and someone who can appreciate a good joke, laugh out aloud or sketch out a cartoon is unlikely to be afflicted by Old Age.

If you look around you will see plenty of examples of people overcoming ‘Old Age’.

Shammi Kapoor was almost 80 when he died. Was he old? Hardly. How many 80 year old Foodies do you know who are on Twitter, laugh heartily and enjoy the company of young people? Two examples closer home stand out vividly. An uncle who at 92 happily tends to his handkerchief size garden, plays the flute when he can and curses the Government in his spare time. And the excitement in the eyes of our late grandmother, then 90, when she first tried out a new microwave is the stuff of family legends. Our reaction could be summarized as (with apologies to Gulzaar sahab):

हमने देखी है उन आँखों में सवालों की चमक

भूलकर भी उन्हें बुढ़ापे का इलज़ाम न दो 

Most people are not as blessed, true, but hold on.  The ‘Terminal’ symptoms of Old Age CAN be avoided The clue lies in a few simple words: Cell phone, Cooking, Painting, Gardening, Reading, Computers, Facebook, Google, Music, Young Friends and now you can add a few of your own.  As long as the mind retains its curiosity beyond the immediate ‘self’, it seems to release magic chemicals to ward off Old Age.  And in the history of mankind there has never been a time with more easily accessible stimuli to keep the magic flowing. Q.E.D.

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Fighting Stage IV Cancer

‘Avoid the first person singular pronoun’ Father Silvera had dinned into us. Sorry Father, this time I need to break the rule. So far my blog posts under ‘satish-oneeyeclosed.blogspot.com’ have been satirical in nature. There are, however, some matters serious enough to be looked at with both eyes open. And few things are more serious than Stage IV Cancer.

It is almost two years since I was diagnosed with Stage IV--final stage--Adenocarcinoma of the lung with a secondary in the radius bone of my right forearm. It had evidently got into my blood stream. The prognosis seemed exceedingly bleak, with talk of ‘at best a few months’. Four rounds of Chemotherapy and two Supra Major surgeries –Lobectomy of the left lung and replacement of the right forearm radius bone with a custom built Titanium replica made in England –were followed by two more rounds of Chemotherapy and, to everyone’s surprise, I was declared Cancer free. To quote one of the country’s leading Oncologists from Tata Memorial Hospital, ‘with you we are entering uncharted territory’.  I have since then remained Cancer free with periodic check-ups and some new age Targeted Molecular Therapy. A few doctor friends have been urging me to speak out openly about my experience in the hope that it might help others.  What has worked for me, so far certainly, may not work for everyone but it might be worth a try. So here goes:

1.      When the news of Stage IV Cancer Diagnosis is broken to anyone, the first reaction is bound to be shock, followed by How Can This Happen To Me? Doctors goofed, Technicians goofed, Hospitals goofed …forget it. Face the problem squarely if you want to have a chance to deal with it.

2.      Don’t bother about keeping the information a secret. Cancer news is more radioactive than nuclear knowledge in Dr. Khan’s hands. It is bound to spread. Preempt it by sharing it with your nearest and dearest. They are entitled to know. One or two days of shock and every healthy person above 12 years can cope with it.  That allows you to concentrate on important decisions, without worrying about trivia like ‘x won’t be able to take it’ and ‘why was y told and not z?’

3.      To fight Cancer, you need resources. Medical Access, Manpower and Money. Assess your resources carefully even as you try to decide your line of action.

4.      Your objective, even if you are the richest person on earth, should be to get the best medical treatment at the most reasonable price. Remember, expensive does not always mean the best.

5.      Some tough decisions will need to be made---and few of us are trained for life-or-death decisions. Sincere advice will pour in: try alternate medicine, try spiritual healing, there is a miracle doctor in Gangtok. Ask yourself: which of my well wishers are knowledgeable enough to advise meaningfully and have the stamina to devote the time and effort which will be needed?  You must be smart to pick a sensible 3/4 member family/ friend decision making and support team of your own. Some people revel in researching options with long Google sessions; some excel with diets, others are smart about money and insurance and some have a knack of navigating through complicated hospital systems. All areas are important, choose a balanced team.

6.      With your support team in place, choose your main Medical Adviser. S/he need not be an Oncologist, but should be able to help you figure out who will be a good Medical Oncologist for you. S/he will help steer you through the maze of Chemotherapy, Surgery, Radiotherapy and Alternate Therapy decisions, so practically 24x7 availability at least on phone is extremely important.

7.      Select your Medical Oncologist/ Facility with care. At Stage IV, more than one organ would be involved and more than one specialist will be needed but your ‘lead’ doctor is likely to be a Medical Oncologist. Your Medical Adviser will help you choose not just your Medical Oncologist but also a facility where, preferably, all expertise/ services will be available under one roof at rates you can afford.

8.      In case of conflict, go for better Medical Expertise rather than just 5 Star Facilities: Expertise is priceless, Scans are priced and you have choices.

9.      Get your full primary line of action or Protocol sorted out before starting treatment. Also, as your second string, decide on one Alternate therapy, with the knowledge of your Medical Adviser; I chose Homeopathy. Simultaneously, have your Diet plan chalked out.  Have faith in your Med/ Alt Med/ Diet plan but review it once a month with your team to see if everything is on track.

10.   Most important, once your treatment starts, give it time to work and FORGET YOU HAVE CANCER. Concentrate on an activity of interest to you. I focused on Internet Bridge and set specific ratings goals. During reduced immunity periods of Chemotherapy, I wore a mask to work but did not miss any important working day during the 5 month treatment period. And since few things can be more devastating for a writer than the loss of his right hand, I learnt to type with my left hand--it is easier than you think-- and managed. All this to ensure that while the body fights Cancer, the mind gets a break from Cancer.

From Diagnosis to forgetting Cancer, you have about a week or two with luck. I am acutely aware that I have been incredibly lucky in other ways too. The Chemotherapy medicine which evidently worked for me with manageable side effects came into the world market only in 2008; the diagnostic technique which was the key came to India only in 2005 and some of the implants/procedures involved in my forearm surgery were among the first two or three in the world, amazingly ensuring practically no long term loss of hand functions.

Fighting Stage IV Cancer is possible and Forgetting Stage IV Cancer is also possible; forgetting the Doctors who did the fighting is not. So, in the sequence in which they did the fighting for me, Dr. Hemant Tongaonkar (Prof. of Surgery, TMH), Dr. Kumar Prabhash (Medical Oncologist, TMH), Dr. Manish Agarwal  (Orthopedic Surgeon & Oncologist, then TMH, now Hinduja), Dr Raman Deshpande, (Prof. and Surgeon, Thoracic Oncology, Raheja Hospital), and Dr. K.P. Muzumdar, Doyen of Homeopathy, here’s a sincere, heartfelt thank you!

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