Title: The Test of My Life
Author: Yuvraj Singh
Genre: Memoir, Autobiography, Self-Help
Publisher: Random House
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 151
Rating: 5/5
Recently India lost
the T 20 world cup (2014) and the worst news was that Yuvraj singh’s
house pelted with stones after that. It is a big shame not because we lost but
how few bumpkins treat that person who is responsible for that biggest
win world cup 2011 too.
And this incident
propels me towards Yuvraj singh’s memoir ‘ The Test of my life ‘. When we read
a memoir, we not only jus’ read it but watch their life closely via rear-view
mirror. In case of this book .. it is very lenient still heartfelt .
Its not like
a novel we generally read .. “ Jaise Yuvi khud Hamara Haath pakad kar dikha
rahein ho’n - apna Childhood , match-winning moments , odd times and how
he fought his battle, The Cancer “ Its really inspiring to see how
could he able to smile when life gives him every reason to cry .
And when I end this
book with few photos of him, I can feel that emotional cord. In simple words
Tremendous writing, Brave heart !!
Wanted to share
inspiring part of this book .. Here It Is . . .
1. Hope,
even if its answers are ridiculous and vague, is a very powerful emotion. We
all hope to find solutions to our most difficult problems, our worst
nightmares.Your mind lurches
for its Solution.
2. There were days during the second cycle that I wanted to walk
from my chemo station to the taxi but had no legs. Inside them there was no
bone, no muscle. My legs felt like empty bags of tired skin. I fought the
wheelchair. I would tell everyone I’ll walk. A few steps and my knees would
begin to fold and I would have to sit down in a corner. In my mind I would
consider crawling on all fours to the centre’s front door. When I couldn’t get
up someone would go fetch a wheelchair and, as we went through the corridor, I
would feel as if everyone’s eyes were on me and they were thinking: who is this
young man who needs
a wheelchair? The judgement however is only going on in your head.
When you have cancer, you just have it. You are not old or young,
you are simply a cancer patient. You collapse, you puke, you get angry, you
cry, you bombard your caregiver with requests for this dish or that, and the
moment it is produced turn away from it, you throw up the dish so carefully
prepared seconds after eating a tenth of it.Then as you lie in bed at night,
your face burns with shame. What must they be thinking of me? Why am I behaving
like this? How can I do this to the people that love me? The tears come flowing
out and soak your pillow. During such moments all you can hope for is that
‘this too shall pass’.
3. The world was moving along fast but my life had come to a
standstill. I was in an island of silence, no longer a part of the team I had
once belonged to. Indian cricket had moved on and I had been left behind.
4. { His come back to cricket world }
I hated being
thought of as a charity case selection. What annoyed me was that the people who
were throwing the words ‘emotional selection’ around had not tried to find out
what I had been doing.
I know it is a
waste of energy to wake up every day and try to prove yourself worthy to the
whole world. And so the anger ebbed away. I decided to live in the moment and
enjoy the fruits of my labour.
I knew. I would be ok. I would play, I would be hurt, I would be
happy, but I would play and I would be ok.
5. { At last, Short message by Yuvi which motivates me }
When I was ill I
had felt that hope is the rescue rope out of the disease. When the chemical
sadness hit me and I cried, when my scalp and skin was covered with the
stinging sensation of a billion hairs trying to fall off and I cried, when I
had to use a wheelchair and would have preferred to crawl and cried, it was
only the hope that this would get over and life would come around again that
took me out of those moments of despair.
Once the Test call
came the guy I was earlier would have immediately disappeared into the cricket
bubble, grateful for its noise and fast-paced life But this time cricket—the
cricket life—did not displace everything else. It did not edge out the memory
of the battle against cancer and the battle for confidence after that. I did
not hold on to the madness of cricket to run from the memory of cancer. Instead
I held the legacy of cancer close and got my strength and inner peace from it.
P.s. - Thank You Yuvi for sharing Your life with us which
truly inspires, Love You !!