#100sareepact
111/100

A light , almost crush proof tussar silk with a Parsee Gara border . I guess the cross stitch ones are also called Gara ? A ten year old Saree that refuses to even begin to look old . A favourite ” wear to meetings and conferences ” Saree .
Teaming it with an unusual for Bijouri blouse . I love the neckline .

All day work shop organised by V Care , a one in a million Patient Organisation set up 21 years ago by one in a million Vandana Gupta. What does one say about Vandana ? Channelling all her energies post diagnosis of an aggressive cancer and undergoing the full gamut of treatment she set up V Care, a purely volunteer driven organisation that today has set the benchmark for professionalism, dedication and commitment in the area of cancer care.

Always an honour to be called as faculty at these workshops . And my co faculty Markus Wartenburg , the founder and chairperson of the charitable patient advocacy organisation Das Lebenshaus or, House of Life ; a German non profit supporting patients with rare solid tumours like GIST ( a cancer I too work with )
Markus and I conducted our first joint workshop a few years ago in Prague and since then I must say we’ve made such a good job of co presenting that we do not even now need to show each other the slides we prepare …our presentations go seamlessly from one to another . So cool is our comfort zone with each other , like , as he laughingly says , a much married couple ! Today we spoke to an engaged audience of over 35 committed workers from over 8 patient groups on the power of advocacy and best practices for working in tandem with health care professionals as well as the importance of branding in establishing their groups as front runners in their fields.

At the end of the day I realised I had not done the mandatory Pact Picture . We were already on the way home on Worli Sea Face and waiting at the red light when I spotted the Common Man’s statue just ahead . This light bulb beamed in my mind and I was like hey this would be awesome and I implored with Azim to pull up ahead so we could do a quick picture with R K Lakshman’s iconic character who is no stranger to anyone of us .

Amma , the Pandu is right there and I will get into trouble he said but then almost at once he was like , Oh ok but we have to be quick !!!

So a quick dash and the poor unsuspecting Common Man had no choice but to bear with this mad woman . Lucky guy , I whispered to him after the hurried shot and rushed back to the car well in time . You are in the #100sareepact , Sir!!!

Almost well in time , for Pandu ji was taking firm, stern steps in our direction but Azim quickly gesticulated , On our way , On our way…and giggling like a couple of teenagers we were out of there .

You can see how rushed the pictures were ..hair and Saree all windblown.
Azim wanted to know who the Common Man was and what was so special about him , having a statute and all ?
Recounting his story I realise how much we miss him in our lives now and his daily dose of wry wisdom. An icon of an era gone by. In a way I guess it’s a good thing . He would find nothing to smile about in his India today . Or maybe things would be better if he were still around and we could all wake up every morning once again to his pithy commentary on our lives and hold up that mirror to the shenanigans of our so called leaders ?