I reached Gyandeep School around 9.45 am. Although my target
was to reach by 9:00. Mr Maheswari met me at the gate and seemed to be in a hurry. I peeped into
the the auditorium to put my lap top bag. There were only 10 people sitting in
the large auditorium. Oh no! it is going to be again one of those days! Hardly
any audience! Feeling a little disappointed.
Mr Mahewari asked me to come to
the Secretary, Mr Mohan Swaroop Bhatia's room for a welcome tea. I said I don’t take tea or coffee, he again seemed to be relieved. He said that
we would be late and lot of people are waitng in the auditoiurm!. Yeh! I
thought, few more might have come.
We moved to the auditorium with the Secretary Mr Mohan
Swaroop Bhatia, Director Mr K.G.Maheswari and Principal Mrs Nidhi Bhatia. What
a scene the whole auditorium was full more than 250 I think and still more were
coming in more chairs were being put. Wow.
Mr Mohan Swaroop introduced the topic – And presented me a
book authored by him. In the book he had written a story 37 years ago where the
hero dies of cancer. He said that he wanted to start a cancer foundation at
that time and Cancer was something to which he is connected. The previous
principal of the School died of cancer.
Mr K.G.Maheswari, Director, himself a cancer winner and one
of the initial member of I CAW WIN, introduced me.
Both Mr Bhatia and Mr. Maheswari honoured me with a scarf. I
looked at the back of the auditorium more people were still coming and now the
seats were full and people started standing at the back. More chairs were being
brought!
While I was waiting for my laptop to be connected I asked
the audience to share their stories about cancer. A middle aged man sitting in
the front said that he has not seen any
cancer patient survive. I pushed a little more how many patients have you seen
he said around 50. I asked how many have died he said around 45. So atleast 5
have survived!
A young lady said that her dadaji was being treated for a tuberculosis
for more than a year and than it was diagnosed that it was cancer. By this time
it had reached the last stage and nothing could be done. Another lady asked me
why cancer is not detectable in early stage? One of the audience her mother had
died of cancer and she was worried about getting cancer herself.
I introduced my talk by comparing Mr Maheswari and the
previous principal. The difference was how soon the person takes action. The
stage of the disease and type of the disease. Mr Maheswari was operated by me 6
years ago for stage 1 cancer of oral cavity. It was he who made a difference in
his life by taking treatment at the right time. This is what I CAN WIN
Foundation is for – empowering people with the right knowledge to be able to
detect any changes in their body and take immediate action for that. I
introduced Mr Ajay kumar another cancer winner Stage 4 oral cancer operated by
me 2 years back.
I was told by the crowd that Mathura is centre for oral tobacco. Invariably most of the people consume it.
It was one of the most disciplined crowd who set through our
my presentation listening attentively.
In the end of my presentation Mr Ashish Agarwal (09837059393, rawalgodrej@gmail.com) of Mathura
came up spontaneously on to the stage and took pledge not to take tobacco any more. He had been taking
tobacco for the last 27 years. His wife was in tears and said she had tried for many years but failed and today just this one talk has made a difference.
This made my day!
I hope my presentations and efforts will make a difference in the lives of the people around me.
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