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 rendezvous 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 neighbouring 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.
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