Cancer Takes the Final Bow

The ovation that has marked Yuvraj Singh’s recent return to the cricket field has much more to do with just a cricketer’s homecoming to the lime-lit pitch. It has come to symbolize human triumph over a disease that has till now been considered invariably fatal.

Yuvi’s rendezvoux with the rare germ-cell cancer, starting from its delayed diagnosis, his hesitation to confront it and start treatment, the bewildering experience of seeing his bald head in the mirror, his anguish of having to sit away while his team played on the field have made his cancer a touching human story for the public. And, in our all too familiar Bollywood style of “All’s well that ends well”, his return to the cricket field with hair on his head gives us the deja vu feeling at the climax when the villain is finally bashed up by the hero.

Our perception of cancer has been undergoing considerable change over the last few decades. Rajesh Khanna’s epic movie “Anand” depicted it as a “tragic” illness which ultimately took its toll. Fighting it was not much of an option, and going down gracefully is all that one could do.

Kylie Minogue’s affliction with breast cancer in the last decade rang a similar bell as that of Yuvi’s, and made women both aware and confident of dealing with a disease that has haunted them. This Australian pop singer celebrity’s untimely detection of breast cancer, her long fight with the disease, her candid disclosures of her illness, and her final victory over it heralded by her return to the stage helped convince many that this too was possible.

Five of South American leaders have been diagnosed with cancer. And as is the spirit of our modern times, they are all battling it well and continuing to lead their nations. Fidel Castro, the veteran Cuban leader, was the eldest and most senior one to undergo surgery for his disease. Hugo Chavez, the outspoken Venezuelen president has undergone several surgeries for his cancer and has been probably certified cured. Argentina’s elegant lady leader Christina Fernandez de Kirchner had thyroid cancer, from which she has recovered. Two of Brazil’s leaders, the current president Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva and the past Dilma Rouseff are cancer patients. And in neighboring Paraguay, Fernando Lugo is battling cancer too.

Cancer is no longer a disease that is rare and occurs only to others. It has found its way from remote corners to the backyards and now to our homes. What however has changed in recent times is our spirit – from an easily yielding one in Anand to that of an indomitable and resilient one, fuelled by our resolve to return to the field to play again.

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 12th August, 2012.