• RAINBOW STORIES 5 FROM THE CITY AFTER MY HEART, GUWAHATI! A BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE  It's a Monday morning. I walk into the B Barooah Cancer Institute and I see this angelic lady, who wears a smile wider than the circumference of the Earth and brighter than the celestial star, colourfully dressed and with a bagful of books authored by her over one shoulder. She doesn't smile for me alone, as she walks up to me and hugs me ever so warmly to her. She nods and smiles for everyone around her! She's the Florence Nightingale for many, Minoti Barthakur Baidew! This is her twenty second year of fighting Malignant Lymphoma after doctors had declared way back in 1994 that it was forebodingly too late for them to try any life-saving activity on her, even for a year. Well, it's for all to see how Minoti Baidew took each day at a time and proved destiny wrong! She says she has lived upto her promise to the Almighty that she would dedicate her life to the cancer patients of the Northeast India and has she taken the pain! She has spent days and nights going through large number of books and research works written by cancer specialists and cancer patients during the period of her sickness. With the data acquired from these books including her own experience of yoga and meditation and from her intense study over the internet, since January 2000, she thought of offering her honorary service to the Dr. B. Barooah Cancer Institute (The Regional Cancer Institute for the entire North Eastern Region, situated at Guwahati, Assam). Through her counseling, Baidew tries to change the attitude of the patients by inspiring and motivating them to fight with their disease. 1. She encourages the patients to increase their mental strength so that they are not afraid of the disease. 2. She encourages them to take responsibility and to fight like a soldier so that they can get rid of their sickness. 2. She gives guidance about what food is best for them and how to prepare their food. 3. She teaches them to do regular physical and breathing exercises. 4. She sings and dances with the patients. 5. She also offers prayer in the hospital along with the patients so that they regain their mental strength for early recovery. 6. She also trains the patients the art of meditation through her meditation center. The patients of Dr. B. Barooah Cancer Institute are now encouraged to a great extent since her counselling has given them immense mental strength to fight their disease. Moreover, patients who were earlier afraid of Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy could later boldly face the treatment after her counseling sessions. She makes regular visits to the homes of terminally ill patients and prays to lessen their pain. She even guides patients about meditation over the phone. And now, it is not only patients from the North-East but from other states of India as well who take her advice over phone and e-mail. Minoti Barthakur Baidew has visited Bangladesh in 2004 and offered her services in Mahakali, Dhaka Cancer Hospital. She worked in National Cancer Hospital, Maharagama, Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2009. This year she has delivered 6 lectures in different islands of the Maldives on request of the Maldives Cancer Society and her lectures were highly appreciated by the doctors, employees and the organizers of the different hospitals. With a ‘never-say-die’ attitude, Minoti Baidew retired from active government service in 2006. She had a brilliant academic record and was a gold medalist from Darrang College Tezpur, Assam. She had served as Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy, Cotton College, a premier Post-Graduate Institution in Guwahati. Even her second and more painful attack in 2009, left Baidew undaunted. She went onto write her first book on cancer care in Assamese; “Mor Asukhar Ebasar, Ejon Cancer Rogir Abhigyata” which became extremely popular and has completed six editions till now, and the seventh edition of the book is coming shortly. With over 18,000 books sold till date, it has also been translated to English, Bengali, Hindi and Bodo. The English version, “A Cancer Survivor: Struggle and Success” is published by B. L. Publishing Corporation Delhi. She has written the book based on the cancer researches done on the cancer survivors and also on her personal observations during the period of her sickness. The book is also a guiding tool about the kind of lifestyle to be maintained by a cancer patient; food, exercise, and the power of the mind in controlling this debilitating disease. She chronicles the victories of some patients who have used the power of their thoughts to cure themselves. With the kind of trauma and pain she has been through for over more than two decades, she deems it fit for herself to counsel patients, ‘cause who better than her would be able to understand their story. Always full of life, Minoti Baidew knows nothing more than loving people. She runs a free counseling and meditation center, for the cancer patients apart from students and other people. The name of her center is “Minoti’s Counseling and Meditation Center” which is situated in Flat No- B4, Silver Heights, Opposite Old Passport Office, Bye Lane Basishthapur -3, Beltola Road, Guwahati. A brilliant orator, she has published her second book in English namely “The Hardworking Nyishi Women of Arunachal Pradesh” for the development and progress of the Nyishi community. Her third book “Kalija Kaite Bindhile Ji Soraye Gan Gai” has been recently published, on the story of her life in a question answer format with Gitimalika Neog. At present, Baidew is busy writing her fourth book, “The Concepts of Meditation”. Minoti Baidew also delivers lectures in schools, colleges and universities including some such places to motivate and inspire young people. Minoti Barthakur Baidew, this woman of steel, keeps adding feathers to her cap when every now and then different organisations honour and felicitate her. In 2005, she had been awarded the N.E.T.V. Woman of the Year. In 2007, she was the recipient of an award presented by the Governor of Nagaland for her dedicated service for the cancer patients of the North-Eastern region and in 2008, she was recognised as the “Positive Health Hero” from Dr. Batras, an international organization having health centers in 56 countries of the world. An extremely active Rotarian, having joined Rotary in 1989, Minoti Barthakur Baidew has been awarded with the highest honour known as the “Service Above Self Award” by Rotary International. More power to Minoti Barthakur Baidew! I love you!