Of Celebrations!

It was World Cancer Day yesterday. And I celebrated it in true style. By partying all weekend with a gang of new friends. By packing for a long overdue vacation. By boogieing at a fitness class. And by showing my special brand of finger to cancer.

A friend posted yesterday that cancer is not a celebration of life. I humbly beg to differ. It's definitely a celebration. Of multiple things. It's a party of your body being strong enough. It's a gathering of your mind being resilient. And it's coming together of all your priorities to the top of your bucket list.

It's also a win of all the things you took for granted - eating food, combing hair, raising your arm over your head (all my pink sisters who have had lymph nodes removed will relate to this). Anybody fighting to recover from any ailment will tell you - recovery is cause enough for celebration. For an amputee becoming a blade runner, for a cardiac patient running a 5 km and for a survivor their next clear scan - each milestone however big or small is enough to party. After all it gives hope to others taking their first steps to recovery. And hope is what makes us human.

This is not to take away from the pain, the horror and the depression while treatment is on. It is unfortunately all too real. And everyone deals with it differently. But if a Parrikar giving the Budget speech with a nasal pipe, a Tahira rocking the bald look and a Yuvraj dominating the cricket pitch all help the next fighter face cancer with courage - I say bring on the champagne! It's time to celebrate.

Happy Cancer Day to me folks. And I pray I never wish any of you or yours the same. Gonna be selfish this time and keep it all to me. Cheers!