Live Life Bindaas.
Sashi Venkat has one motto, and that is to live life
bindaas (carefree).
In 2008, during a self exam, she felt a lump in her
breast. She decided to do an ultrasound to check if
there was anything wrong. She says, “the ultrasound
did not show anything, but I still had this
uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong. So,
I went in for further tests, and an FNAC (fine-needle
aspiration cytology) test showed it was cancer.”
From Shock to Resolution.
Sashi points out that such a diagnosis rattled even
someone as optimistic as she is, at least at first. “The
first thing that comes to anyone’s mind is, ‘Oh God,
why me?’ and ‘How long will I live?’ I’ve always been
healthy and maintained a proper diet. But cancer can
still strike.”
Her family, which had no history of cancer, was
understandably devastated. “My husband was on
Google 24/7 trying to find out what all could be done.
There was a point when the doctors even joked that
he knew as much as them about cancer and the
treatments available!”
The Quest to Find the Right
Doctor.
It took her six months to find the right doctor and
hospital. Venkat took her all over the country and even
abroad to help her find suitable treatment. Most
doctors recommended a mastectomy, and there was
even one who gave her only two years to live.
But Sashi refused to accept these diagnoses, and
was determined to find the right treatment, one that
she was comfortable with. Then one day, she saw an
article in a newspaper on ‘CyberKnife’, a procedure
involving targeted radiation. It said this procedure
could shrink the lump.
“I will never forget my doctor’s reaction when I told
him that I had been diagnosed with cancer six months
back, but was yet to start any proper treatment. He
must have been wondering how someone could be
so bold. I was laughing and talking to him in my usual
bindaas style.”
Sashi Venkat
“Would crying have helped me when I had
cancer? No. Learn to face and handle your
problems. And always live life bindaas!”THE WEEK • JULY 21, 2019 35PLUS