The Fearless Girl

Some hearts beat to create an everlasting print on our lives.
One such soul to print an impression in my life is none other than the young warrior, my student Yashashri.

It was quite a few months ago that I encountered a shattering shock. What came through, was the courage shown by Yashashri, against a catastrophic cause, Cancer. I amassed the guts to know her whereabouts through the telephonic conversation amidst the pandemic, and ended up whimpering but at the same time was feeling proud of her for facing this phase of life exemplarily!

It was in early November 2019 when things were about to take a new turn. Yashashri is a final year Engineering student and soon was to appear for her semester exams. Hardly did she realize she was also preparing herself for a life exam set by God too! 

Days rolled quick and the exam day arrived. There was something unpleasant in the atmosphere around. The uneasiness during the exam, the unusual mood swings, and the severity of pain in the chest called for an immediate check-up at the hospital. After attending hours of interrogation about the pain, undergoing major medical tests, it was the time for results.

Have you ever heard of a hindi phrase, pairon tale jameen khisakana? Yes, this is what Yashashri and her family have experienced this time! For an outliving girl like her, it was now a shock to learn about her untimely disease, AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) 

She was initially admitted to a renowned hospital in Mumbai. With no knowledge of this, she underwent bone-shaking bone marrow tests thrice. Based on the fluctuating health situations, she was then admitted to Tata Memorial Hospital. The treatment that she was undergoing daily made her physically weak, yet forced its way out to keep herself mentally strong. Rather, Yashashri had put herself to the task of motivating herself, her relatives, and the co-patients around! Indeed lucky were they who got temporary ease of life because of such a charismatic soul!

Right towards the end of the year, the agonizing chemotherapy sessions had begun. This devilish demon always comes along with the uninvited guests like lips drying out, nails turning black, teeth turning brown, excessive sweating backed with high temperatures, unusual blood clots, and the most unacceptable pain being the hair falling off. The side-effects were shown at extremities within the 4 cycles of chemo, making her body weak. At times she even cried like a child. This journey of Chemotherapy and unbearable pain continued for almost 5 months in the hospital.

It was as if she was reliving childhood by commanding people around, having her favorite dishes cooked by her father, feeling the warmth of mother’s and mother-like mami’s love and care, unbound support of siblings, and of course, being reasoned to keep up the people! 

Usually, patients get petrified merely by thoughts of this treatment and leave it half the way and give up. Considering so, when Yashashri had casually questioned the doctor about it out of curiosity, the doctor was astonished to have come across such a brave patient in his whole medical history. They called her a Fearless Girl. Wow! What an annotation! There is one who is standing in front of the charging bull and here is the one standing tall against the enemy residing within herself. 

In words of Albus Dumbledore, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Amidst the gloomy situation, there was always a ray of hope within Yashashri that kept dead moments alive. She used to spend her time sketching, interacting with the friends-like hospital staff, and spending time to cheer up her co-patients. The decoration of the Christmas tree along with the sisters and brothers at the hospital while undergoing her chemo cycles highlights the stay during the spring.

Having spoken about the severity of chemotherapy, would a patient even have a tendency to stand up or walk by themselves? Not really. But our dance enthusiast, Yashashri wouldn’t resist her feet and excitedly used to do pole dancing with the saline tubes on! What an astonishing scene to even visualize, isn’t it?

In today’s society with people of deteriorating moral values, seldom do we come across individuals like Yashashri who never fail to show the true instincts of humanity. Regardless of the traumatizing agony that she was going through, she made sure to reciprocate the hospital staff’s service by designing “thank you” cards and offering them reverentially. 

She is an optimist who believes, whatever difficulties pop up, it has something good to cast off as well! Like, this phase has binded the family even stronger and made her realize the importance of each bond. Nevertheless, the journey would have been at a tougher front without the undivided support of friends towards whom she would be thankful for.

Having asked her about her bucket list, she promptly shared the same, reading which I realized irrespective of all the hurdles, if she can, why can’t we have a positive approach, and try to fulfill our own dreams? Definitely we should!

Towards the footnote, here is a vision-enhancing message from my young warrior Yashashri, that would broaden our perspective towards life-
Life is highly uncertain. Whatever is bound to happen will happen for sure. The things we have planned today might miserably fail tomorrow, or there would even be the days when unplanned tasks would work out the best! What matters is our positive attitude towards it, and the willpower to never step back! After all, it’s the heart that is bigger than the brain, and the world inside us that is huger than the world outside! Aakhir, do pal ka jeevan hai, khul ke jiyo, apno ke sath waqt betao, sabhi jeev- nirjeev ka adar karo, aur sab ke jevan khushiyo se bharo do!! Call your friends, relatives, all the close ones. Speak out your feelings because even if you think things are not good between you and them talking out can surely lessen your burden!

There was a time when I scolded her as a teacher for taking her studies very casually and doing all the crazy things. But today I consider myself fortunate to have Yashashri as a student, who has made me realize that every single moment is inevitable. Just accept what has happened in our life and live to it. Being a student she has taught me the lessons of life which are bound to make everlasting impressions on my living! Indeed, she is a role model for each one of us. I wish Yashashri a hale and hearty life.
Yashas-vi- Bhava!!