Tahira Kashyap, wife of actor Ayushmann Khurrana, speaks about her recent cancer scare, and how the experience has reinforced her faith in the human spirit
BOMBAY TIMES (November 11, 2018)

On a Diwali trip home in Chandigarh, Tahira Kashyap spoke about her battle with cancer. “I was in a good phase of my life with my first film as director coming up,” said Tahira, speaking about the time when she was diagnosed with the disease. She shared, “One day, I started feeling heavy in one breast. And honestly, I rejoiced thinking finally my size was going up, even if it was at 35! Entire humanity obsesses over women’s breasts, I was no different.”

She credited her actor husband, Ayushmann Khurrana and her best friend of being proactive in consulting a gynaecologist, and spoke about how the DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) in her right breast with high-grade malignant cells, (stage 0 cancer/precancerous stage) reiterated her faith in the human spirit. “When the diagnosis was confirmed, my husband and I decided to maintain a happy life state to deal with it. Rather than go home and worry about it, we went to see a movie that evening and then got the date for the operation.”

After a mastectomy, Tahira is currently undergoing chemotherapy as a preemptive measure. “This obstacle has given me a new definition of life — to respect its unpredictability, and have the faith and courage to be the hero of your own life,” she said. Tahira also spoke about how turbulent times test your faith. “Your life and spirit depend on your faith, be it religion, or anything else. It would be crushing for anyone to be diagnosed with cancer, as many months of your life are invested in treatment. Fortunately, I practise Nichren Buddhism, I chant. I feel my faith in chanting — and whatever it is that you have faith in — is put to test during tough times. What has cancer taught me? It has made me a better version of myself. Whatever life throws at us, it is for us to deal with it. I want to be happy whatever the situation, and the best way is to deal with it.”

Tahira summed up her experience post cancer with a quote, “The indomitable resolve to win and defeat any illness lies as much in your mind as in the body. And if you win in the mind, half your battle is won. I told myself, if my body gives up, let me put my wits together and not get scared. The invincible human spirit is Godlike, it gives you the courage to endure and the will to revive. There is nothing that human spirit can’t do.”

Tahira was also flanked by her father Yajan Kashyap, who spoke about how his daughter broke the news to them from Mumbai. “She called and said, ‘There is nothing to worry. If you want, you both (referring to his wife) can come over to Mumbai for a few days’. No one in their lifetime could imagine their daughter getting cancer. And she, like all daughters, is good at hiding her pain from her parents. When we met her, she was smiling and looked so happy that I found it hard to believe that she could have cancer.”