As I look at life

The spirit of Mumbai?

My city is known for its spirit in the face of disasters, calamities and unfortunate incidents. My city is known for getting back on foot no matter what. My city is known for the unity it has displayed during days that tried its patience. I love my city Mumbai.

My city is known for its love for the legends of the city - in Bollywood, Politics, Business and every other field. My city is known for the way it feels sad unanimously, not compulsorily, every time we lose a legend. I love my city Mumbai.

Letter to the thief

So Mrinal's wallet was stolen a few minutes back at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. While we had loads of work to complete this Sunday, we are struggling to block credit cards and lodge complaints. Not to mention the disappointment and anger. All right, my househelp's 4th leave this week has added fuel to it. As househelps are meant to be pampered else they will leave you home alone with all the cleaning and washing, and since with Fibromyalgia, I cannot afford to lose a househelp, I am gonna talk to the thief. Here's a letter to the thief. All I need is the address now!

Addressing audience during
World Arthritis Meet, Mumbai

It's one thing when people say you are strong, it's one thing when you think you are strong, but when your inner voice says it to you... when no one but only you are listening... that's when it actually happens!

That's when you truly believe you have become strong.

I became strong last night.

We have been the best of friends for a long long time. Now that I mention it, let me count... 17 years... Wow Varsha, that's cool!

When we met in college, we were a huge gang of science students... I guess we were the biggest gang in our college bound by studies and fun. And as it happens with most of us, when we move towards the final year and the majors change, we get to spend lesser 'big-gang' time together. Eventually and mostly, Chem people stay together breaking countless burettes and flasks; Physics folks stay tied up as their frequencies match better; Botany and Zoology species form their own genus; and Maths, well their equations are a bit different and very intellectual. I call it The Big Gang Theory!

Age 15: I used to visit the vegetable market with my Mom. The vendors would call my Mom 'Bhabhi' and call me 'Beti'. How they would refer to a 20-something purchasing vegetables 'Madam'. How I wanted to grow up soon and be called 'Madam'! There was something magical about it then! I would call all vendors 'Uncle'.

Age 25: I visited the market with my Mom, who had now become 'Aunty' and I was finally 'Madam'. How I would look at newly wed young women wearing mangalsutra, beautiful dresses and lovely bangles who would come by themselves to buy the veggies. The vendors would call them 'Bhabhi' How I wondered what it would be like to shop alone and be referred to as 'Bhabhi'! The vendors became 'Bhaiyya' to me!

Kaat-te rehte mujhko
Saanjh savere

Paiiron mein... haaye
Paiiron mein... haaye..ae..ae..ae

Kaat-te rehte mujhko
Saanjh savere
Paiiron mein basya jaise
kaante ye tere
Paiiron mein basya jaise
kaante ye tere

The Goodness of IndiBloggers Meet:Learnings, Initiatives and Goodies!

One of the biggest things I did in May, in addition to launching my Fibromyalgia Awareness blog, was attending the Stayfree | UNICEF Women's IndiBlogger Meet. The meet that was organised around the theme Women For Change succeeded in bringing about a change in the way we would think and act from now.

After the initial interaction and introductions, we were taken through a couple of presentations. When I heard the word 'presentation' the first thought that came to my mind is, "Oh... a boring ppt... that too on a Sunday!" But the presentations, complete with shocking facts and numbers, grabbed our attention right from the start until the end. Actually, they stirred our brains!

Only 12 percent women in India use sanitary napkins!

The ladyfinger could not stop crying. She, along with her green buddies, had been lying in the basket of the vegetable vendor for almost a week. Until yesterday, she was under the heap of other ladyfingers in the basket and she reached the top only yesterday.

She awaited some aunty to come and pick her so that she can get transformed into bharwan bhindi or bhindi fry. She dreaded the arrival of the restaurant guy who would eventually mix her with some oily masala to prepare bhindi masala. While that too is an excellent preparation, she knew that in restaurants people prefer the arrogant paneer over bhindi masala and that she would eventually be thrown in garbage.

Is unique always special?

I remember when I was a kid and I watched Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan starrer movie Anand for the first time, I used to say that if I ever suffer from a medical condition its name should be as unique as Anand's lymphosarcoma of the intestine!

I know it sounds silly, but I was a kid then. I loved Anand's character that was always so bubbly and happy. More than that, I loved how much everyone loved him. There was something about the way he spread happiness and stayed happy even when he knew he was dying. For me he was Mahaan, and as kids, Mahaanta always inspires us, right?

Now we wish for so many small and big things all the time:

"I wish I manage to catch the 8.34 local train!"
"I wish I reach home early today!"
"I wish it rains today!"
"I wish it doesn't rain today!"
"I wish the househelp comes early today!"
"I wish I can buy this big a house!"
"I wish I have a good hair day!"

Not all our wishes come true, but unfortunately for me this one stupid wish of having a unique disease was fulfilled. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (here's how you pronounce it). It's been almost three years now if I calculate from the time I visited a doctor and described the symptoms.

No, I won't die due to Fibromyalgia... thank God for that! But I will have to live with pain until I am alive. Please don't feel sorry for me as I have accepted it and am managing my life with it. And also, that is not the purpose of writing this post. The purpose is spreading awareness about the condition.

The way lymphosarcoma of the intestine had a commonly known name Cancer, Fibromyalgia doesn't have any commonly understood name but is always misunderstood. In fact, it is also known as Invisible Illness. Rightly so, as people with Fibromyalgia do not look sick. If you meet me you will not notice that I have a medical problem. You will not notice that I am having excruciating pain all over my body even as I talk to you.

Now while I have tried to derive some positivity from this (you can read about it here), I need the support of bloggers. I have created a blog on Fibromyalgia Awareness. Please take some time to go through it and understand all about it.

I am not asking for monetary contribution as there's no surgery required, since there is no cure at all. So you can read on ;)

I am requesting you to join me in spreading awareness about this unique condition. This will serve a two-fold purpose:

People will know what Fibromyalgia is all about. They will understand that we are not being lazy or unreasonable, that we seriously cannot do certain things which they can do like preparing the morning cup of tea / lifting shopping bags / working full time. This is really necessary as it affects our personal and work life more than you can imagine.
People who might have Fibromyalgia but have never heard about it can understand the condition and report their symptoms to a specialist. So there won't be delay in starting the treatment. Here, you must know that there is no sure-shot way of diagnosing it; Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning several tests are done to rule out other conditions before it is established that one has this Fibromyalgia. So it takes a lot of time. The sooner one starts, the better!

You can help me in raising awareness in any of the following ways or you can suggest me more ideas:

Talk about Fibromyalgia with people you know.
Join the Facebook page of the blog and share it on your timeline. Who know someone somewhere on Facebook might benefit!
Contribute a Guest Post on the Fibromyalgia Awareness blog - your views / fiction stories / posters / anything you wish.
Follow the Twitter handle and retweet the tweets you like.
Follow the Pinterest board; Repin the posters you like.
Share your ideas to help me spread the word.

Thank you for reading such a long post. I hope a time comes soon when people with Fibromyalgia would not have to explain others what it is all about, get tips to feel better and lead a better life.

PS Do not ever wish to have a particular disease with a unique name... you never know at that very time someone up there grants it!