7th OCTOBER 2017
The video I have posted celebrates a breathing, laughing Mads. I thought it apt to post it today. The day was very special and Mads got the well deserved love from her dearest friends, some of who had travelled from distant places just to be with her. It was a day of joy and laughter .What made it so special was that after a very long and gloomy spell, Mads had once again begun talking and laughing. When Dhwani called from school to wish her, she was so shocked to hear mother’s voice,  she started weeping!

So how did this happen?

When the doc gave his prognosis, I found it very hard to accept.. She had less than a year. My god how was that possible? There had to be another way.Late in the night when all was quiet, exhausted though I was from all the caregiving tasks and activities, I just couldn’t sleep seeing my sis the way she was. I set out to look for an alternative to the radiation and chemo which she had been subjected to and which was quietly killing her. 

 When you are determined and passionate they say the universe always finds a way. And it did through an email from a friend mentioning Joannah Budwig. I pounced on that information and greedily lapped up anything I could find about the treatment. I bought every book she had written, researched any link that was on the internet. And what I found was a gift. The “Budwig protocol”. It made immense sense. I decided to try this with all my heart. Because I was convinced this could work. It Ignited in me  a glimmer of hope …

 I believe this was an outcome of  working with this diet. It is actually not a “diet,” but rather a specific mixture necessary for many alternative treatments; from type 2 diabetes to cancer to heart disease to autoimmune diseases.

 As you see in this video, the results were spectacular. Mads started speaking and laughing again. The doc said he had never seen such a remarkable turnaround. It was a couple of days before her Birthday that I had to re admit her to karnunashraya since I had to travel to Delhi to settle her matters. So what you see is Mads fresh from home having been exclusively on this diet.

 But sadly I found it very challenging to continue because there was no support. There was nobody I could hand the baton to at the Institute or to any one else while I was travelling.  The nurses had other patients. Nobody had the time.

 The hardest was fighting off the sceptics who had already written her off …the visitors  who would in all ignorance, ply her with sugary drinks and fried foods …a total no no in this Protocol because  sugar, as we know, feeds cancer.

"Hope is what keeps you trying, Faith is believing things will change. Courage is taking action to make it happen. "



 

It is now 1:52 am – a few hours back I was siting on the back porch staring absentmindedly into the darkness of the night, when I suddenly remembered Madhavi. The thought of her wouldn’t go and when it persisted, I started searching for her on the net.

I was shocked beyond words when I came across this site. Disbelief made me say no this is not the Madhavi I knew – it couldn’t be. I looked at each photo, over and over again, until I could not lie to myself anymore.

Sadness and gloom filled me and made me ask why her Lord? She was always so full of life, laughter and love – she didn’t deserve to go this young neither did the world afford to lose such a wonderful soul. She has been the finest person I have ever met.

I met her first time when she joined Delhi School of Social Work. A then common friend introduced us. I do not know why but we instantly bonded and became great friends.

Those beautiful, big, glimmering eyes, her mischievous smile and infectious laughter would always would always fill me warmth and happiness. I guess nobody could ever be angry or sad when she was around.

I still remember her calls to my office, “Josh, I need to talk to you – today.” So, after work, I would have to go all the way to Delhi University, pick her up, go have dinner and then sit talking for hours on the steps of her hostel.

Her carefree attitude belied her intensity and sensitivity to the world around us. Her questions and search for the meaning of life and love was what would keep us there for hours.

I remember one morning she charged into my place, literally kicked me out of my bed, told me to go take a shower and get ready. Then she made me sit on the floor and did some ritual and put a tika on my forehead and said it was some bhaiya something day (it wasn’t Raksha Bandhan – something Marathi, I don’t remember exactly) and that she did this ritual with her brother and since he wasn’t around I was the substitute.

Unfortunately a few years later I lost total contact with her but she was always most fondly remembered and will always be – from now on, like Khalil Gibran wrote, with tear and a smile…….

I was shocked and saddened to read that Madhavi had passed away. I am a member of Nichiren Buddhism and her experience of courage and determination has greatly inspired me and hundreds of others and continues to do so even today.

Here is a quote that I want to share from Sensei Ikeda and is based on the wonderful Buddhism that Madhavi practiced.

"Cycles of life and death can be likened to the alternating periods of sleep and wakefulness. Just as sleep prepares us for the next day’s activity, death can be seen as a state in which we rest and replenish ourselves for new life. In this light, death should be acknowledged, along with life, as a blessing to be appreciated." -Sensei Ikeda

She continues to encourage and bring life to so many who read about her, even those who didn't know her. That in itself is amazing and the light she brought forth in her life continues to guide others.

Jim