Celebration of life with a never-say-die spirit

"Agar aap haar mann lete hain, toh aapki haar ho jati hai!" (If you concede your defeat, you are defeated!). 

The aforesaid line coined by a cancer survivor, Aanchal Sharma, rent the air when 40-odd people from different walks of life gathered in a hall to celebrate life and its struggles on Sunday. The spontaneously delivered one line defined the event – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.  

Such was the impact of the powerful one-liner that it was followed by a few seconds' silence. It itched in the minds of all those present on the occasion. 

Aanchal Sharma is an entrepreneur. A class VIII dropout, Aanchal says she started living life kingsize, or queen-size as one might call it, only after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. 

Her journey was different in every respect from other attendees in the hall. Yet, it was inspiring which an average person can relate with. Listening to her many in audience developed goosebumps. The way she coped with every turn and twist of life, her strength, her courage, her conviction in herself, all this sent positive vibes in the audience.

Every woman present on the occasion had a twinkle in her eyes. Through coming from diverse professional and social background, the one thing that brought all of them together on a single platform was their yearning to share each other's saga of survival. 

The event, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, was organised by Connected as an attempt to connect women to women through dialogue and sharing experiences. The aim of the event was to let the hope of life afloat against all the odds one might face and not lose out to emotional or mental trauma. 

The dialogue was initiated by Rajani Sen, co-founder of connected. She pointed out how often people don't talk about their mental health for fear of being judged by people around. 

Soon the interaction culminated on a notion where members of the audience comfortably felt it's time they change the oft-repeated refrain of the society, “log kya khahenge” (what would people say) to  “logon ka kaam hai kehna (so what? people would always have a say).

As the evening proceeded, children and their mental well-being were a co-relation of environment and stress was built by the speakers.

At the one end, while a speaker, Daya Shankar Mishra, a journalist and author, was of the opinion that “ek dara hua samaj, dare huye logon ko hi paida karta hai (a scared society always breeds scared people). Hence, we need to stop putting undue pressure on our children to be the best. 

“Mana kyun nahin kar pate?” (Why can't say no). Calling this universally applicable doctrine a trap, Mishra suggested that each one of us can overcome it by simply uttering a two-letter word, 'NO'. This, he said we should teach our children too.

(Connected, a forum for women was started in March 2019 by Ritu Bhardwaj, a mom under-going postpartum depression)