When Vijay Mohan Raj (Tony to us) called me and asked me if I could moderate a panel discussion on the release of the book his better half Farida Raj had written, I said I would do it provided I did not have to tour. It worked out and I met Farida and we went through it and I read the book and prepared for the event on the 4th February at Taj Vivanta.
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| Ms Meena Gupta, Dr Sudhir, Ms Farida Raj and me |
The book 'Unbreakable Spirit' is about navigating life with Multiple Sclerosis and on stage with Farida were Dr Sudhir, a renowned neurologist with Apollo Hospitals and Ms Meena Gupta founder of the Hyderabad Chapter of the MSSI (the MS Society of India). Almost 200 people were in attendance - prominent people fro the twin cities and many patients suffering from the illness and their caregivers.
The evening began with a fine welcome and introduction by Ms Arti Vishal, an MS patient herself, followed by a beautiful short film that depicted how MS can strike young people. After that we walked on to the stage for the panel discussion. I asked Dr Sudhir first about what the illness is about, why it is called multiple sclerosis, how to diagnose it, treatment, cure, symptom management etc. Mrs Meena Gupta shared her journey with MS, how she set up the Hyderabad chapter, what the chapter does, how it reaches out to people, how they create awareness etc. Farida spoke about why she wrote the book, how she went about the process, her message to the audience, what she expected the book to achieve etc.
After the panel discussion we threw the floor open for questions and cut it short because the press was in a hurry to capture the launch moment. Apart from those on stage, we invited Prince Raunaq Yar Khan, Mr Durga Prasad and Dr Bapuji to release the book.
It was a fine event and I enjoyed doing my bit for the cause of MS patients and the MSSI.
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