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Koirala’s tale of grit, Shabana’s tribute to dad draw curtain on Kasauli fest

The last day of Khushwant Singh Literary Festival at the Kasauli Club started on a positive note with Manisha Koirala sharing her journey of conquering cancer.

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Gurnaaz

The last day of Khushwant Singh Literary Festival at the Kasauli Club started on a positive note with Manisha Koirala sharing her journey of conquering cancer.

In conversation with Sathya Saran, the actress narrated anecdotes from the three years that in the beginning meant despair and later turned out to be the most spiritual experience. “I used to go to spiritual places for meditation, but this phase really made me delve into who I am and what I want to be; how important spirituality is to me,” the actress said.

Titled “Healed”, her cancer memoir, is about finding signs of hope and believing all will be fine. “I was sure that I will be fine, live a healthy life and leave behind the illness. There was a time when I asked doctors to give me a guarantee and as some months passed, I made peace with fear and death. That’s what taught me to make the most of all I have, living in the moment and it has now become an extension of my personality.”

Being careless about health and well-being, not listening to the signs that body shows is what Manisha did. She insisted that no one should take his/her health lightly. “I learnt to give importance to my health and that’s something I tell others to do as well.”

Anyone and everyone bother about how they look and when you are in the showbiz, it means so much more. “It’s a constant worry about how we are perceived, how we are looked upon. People would say- ‘kya thi aur kya ho gayi hai’. After returning to Mumbai, I lacked the strength to look into anyone’s eyes. I avoided meeting people, but I discovered that all human beings are not cruel or mean. They accepted and appreciated my journey; and gave me strength.”

Happy about how life has shaped both personally and professionally since cancer, she did at one point feel everything was falling apart. “My health was gone, career almost over and this was happening to a person who had tasted success at such an early age. I already had a failed marriage and it was a point where even life was giving up on me. It was a roller-coaster ride.”

Instead of feeling victimised, Manisha focused on getting another chance. Now when she has it, she says “When I looked back, I was not happy with a lot of things that I had done in the past. I wanted to do things differently. Everything felt incomplete. Being human, I had the desire to live a full life. And that’s what I am doing now. I made promises to myself and made sure to fulfil those. I’ve learnt to value my relationships, health and work. I make the best of everything. There are times when I get stressed or cry over some situation, but I remind myself that I’ve gone through the worst.” Manisha makes sure to go for her daily walk, sleep for eight hours, meditate, be among her loved ones and most importantly, keep her mind positive.

After her endearing story, followed a powerful session to celebrate the centenary year of Kaifi Azmi with his proud daughter Shabana Azmi there to narrate his unconventional and extraordinary tales. The occasion also saw the launch of Kaifi Azmi: Poems/Nazms, an English translation of his poems by Sudeep Sen and other poets. Moderated by Dr Saif Mahmood, an hour was dedicated to Shabana, Sudeep Sen and Saif reminiscing their experiences of the great Urdu poet and the layers of meaning in his rebellious words.

“Being here was important to me because what Rahul Singh is doing for Khushwant Singh, I am doing for Kaifi. So, it was important for me to come here,” Shabana said and continued: “A poet is a euphemism for someone who does no work. And because I never saw him wear a coat or a tie and go to work. He would wear a kurta-pyjama all the time at home. I really did come to believe he has nothing to do.” Recollecting her childhood, the times when eight families, including hers, stayed at the commune, terms like gender empowerment, equality were a given. “My mother back then had to work at a radio station and later theatre. My parents did a role reversal as and when required. There were no tags like women stay at home to cook and bring up kids and men earn a living. Everyone did everything and it was the most natural thing for us.”

It was much later when she had a brush with life beyond her house and she realised that gender equality, social justice and embracing India’s diversity were real issues the country was dealing with.

As the session was dedicated to poetry, when Sudeep was asked if being an English poet, translating Urdu verses was an easy or difficult choice, he said:“Poetry has no linguistic boundaries, it emanates from a different space; when the soul and words marry, it brings out the best. It had nothing to do with which language I was working on but what I was working. I am just a foot soldier, who did his bit to let the deep, resounding thoughts of Kaifi reach those who do not know Urdu, but wish to know his mind and mission.”

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