Cancer Warrior Ramendra Kumar’s inspiring journey
Welcome back to Author’s Journey, the author interview series where I sit down with writers about their Author Journey – how their books actually came to be. What changed for them during the course of writing the book or what made them the writer that they are.
I’m Mangal D Karnad, author of Folded Away Softly and Malli and the Mulki Stories — and this time, my guest is someone who has written 55 books.
Ramen Kumar (Ramen) is an award-winning author, storyteller and TEDx speaker. He has written 55 books, and his work has been translated into numerous Indian and international languages. He has been honoured with multiple national awards, and his books have sold over 1.5 million copies through the National Book Trust alone.
His battle with cancer touched millions and stands as a testament to his resilience. An engineer and an MBA, he left his job as General Manager and Chief of Communications, SAIL, to pursue his passion for writing and storytelling. You can read more about Ramen Kumar here: www.ramendra.in
A quick note on how this actually happened: I had met Ramen with our team for a video shoot and we have remined in touch since then. Here are the excerpts from the Author Interview:
Mangal: You took voluntary retirement as General Manager of Corporate Communications at SAIL to write full-time, and you describe yourself as “a communicator by profession and a writer by passion.” What did the communicator teach the writer?
Ramen: I started writing when I was in college. So, I was a writer first and a communicator later. Hence, it was actually the communications professional who learnt from the author. Here are the lessons:
First: The importance of clarity. If your thoughts are not clear, your communication cannot be clear.
Second: Brevity, which again came from writing. Say what you have to say in as few words as possible, without compromising the message.
Writing also taught me to use creativity and imagination to make communication engaging and memorable. Most importantly, it gave me confidence. Confidence in my ability to connect with an audience, whether through the written word or the spoken word.
Mangal: You now have more than 55 books across children’s fiction, satire, poetry and non-fiction, in some 33 languages. Looking back at all of it, is there a thread you only recognised in hindsight?
Ramen: I started my author journey with poems and short stories.
My tryst with children’s literature began with me telling stories to my daughter, Anki, when she was four years old. The tales she loved the most went to the word processor, and from there to editors and publishers. That is how my journey as a writer for children began.
In hindsight, I feel I always had a flair for writing for children. I also enjoy doing it immensely. So, possibly, I could have started writing for children right at the beginning of my writing voyage.
If I had done that, I would probably have had many more books dedicated to children’s literature.
The Writing Process
Mangal: You are a performance storyteller as much as a writer. Standing in front of a room of children, what do you do that the page cannot?
Ramen: When I perform in front of children, at least five of the Navarasas come into play: Hasya (humour and laughter), Karuna (compassion and pathos), Veera (courage and heroism), Adbhuta (wonder and amazement) and Bhayanaka (fear), with Hasya definitely dominating.
A story on the written page is two-dimensional. But when I tell a story, I explore all three dimensions. The connection with the audience is instant, and I respond to their reactions as the story unfolds. Quite often, my wit comes into play, depending on how the children respond.
I always try my best, and in many cases I succeed, in creating humour spontaneously. For instance, I had recently gone to a school for a storytelling session and noticed that one of the teachers was sitting rather seriously.
So, I looked at her, gently drew the children’s attention towards her and said, “It looks like Mohini Ma’am is not very happy that I’m here.” I said it in a half-mocking tone. The children burst out laughing, and so did Mohini Ma’am.
On another occasion, a child asked me, “Why do you write?”
I replied, “I write because it allows me to come to wonderful schools like yours and tell stories to lovely children like you.”
Then I added, “And it also allows your coordinator to call me a comedian.”
Turning to the children, I said, “You all think I’m a storyteller. But she thinks I’m a comedian!”
The children took off laughing.
When I write a story, I don’t get to witness any of this. The reader may smile, laugh, wonder or even shed a tear, but I am not there to see it. During a live storytelling session, however, I experience every emotion along with my audience.
Mangal: How do you keep a story rooted in Indian values without it tipping into a lesson?
Ramen: I have always believed that a story should be enjoyable; otherwise, the child will switch to other mediums. However, mere entertainment is not enough. It will be like chewing gum: the taste will pall after some time. An ideal blend would be a riveting story with a value tucked in so subtly that the reader would internalise or imbibe it without even realising it. The value should flow seamlessly and not be thrust upon the reader in a didactic or preachy way. I have tried to stay with this principle even at the risk of being turned down by editors/publishers, clearly influenced by Western mindsets, whose hackles are raised even at the faintest silhouette of a quiet insight in the tale.
Mangal: Humour runs through your work, and even through how you have spoken about illness, “fight tumour with humour.” What can humour carry in a story that earnestness cannot?
Ramen: The legendary entertainer Victor Borge said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” According to me, humour connects as nothing else can. Even if you are making a very serious point in your tale, garnishing it with humour creates an impact that is immediate, powerful and often long-lasting. In fact, the juxtaposition of the sombre and the witty is a terrific combination.
You can buy some of his books:
AGAINST ALL ODDS : https://www.amazon.in/Against-All-Odds-Ramendra-Kumar/dp/9383331607?s=bazaar
THE GIFT : https://www.amazon.in/Gift-Ramendra-Kumar/dp/8119626613?s=bazaar
The Cancer Warrior
Mangal: Can you describe in brief your journey as a cancer warrior?
Ramen: I was diagnosed with colon cancer in November 2021. I suffered three septic shocks. The probability of surviving one septic shock is only around 30 per cent, which means that three times I knocked on the door of death, shook hands with Lord Yama and walked back to the kingdom of the living. I endured four major surgeries, several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, and forty days in the ICU. I was declared cancer-free in November 2022.
Since then, I have been sharing my journey across platforms and attempting to create an ecosystem of positivity with my family and friends, one that will provide succour, solace and strength to anyone fighting the Big ‘C’.
Mangal: You call yourself “a cancer warrior by determination,” and not a survivor. Why does the word, warrior, matter to you?
Ramen: The word survivor is more appropriate for a person who has made it through a disaster. Cancer is not a catastrophe that happens once. It is a deadly adversary that can creep back stealthily at any time. You don’t just survive cancer; you battle it on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. That is why the word warrior is far more apt than survivor.
Mangal: Through surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, you never stopped telling stories. Did making stories change how you faced the illness, and did the illness change how you tell stories?
Ramen: Great question. Soon after my diagnosis, I went all out on social media. I filled it with wacky, quirky messages, parodies of my favourite actor AB’s dialogues, dance videos, et al. Each post was a story. My wife, Madhavi, wasn’t quite happy. She felt the malady was a deeply personal matter and should be treated as such. My response was that when I had been sharing ‘The best of times’ online, why shouldn’t I share ‘The worst of times’?
The response from my ‘foul weather’ buddies was overwhelming. There were prayers in temples, churches and gurudwaras, and duas in mosques from Lahore to Lucknow to Guwahati. I was deluged with messages, Buddhist incantations and invocations. Columns were written in newspapers, fasts were observed, and my daughter’s bestie, the first lady vegan to climb Mount Everest, prayed for my health when she summited. This support went a long way in helping me face cancer with guts, gumption and resilience.
My war with cancer has definitely impacted the way I look at life and tell my stories. There is a strong undercurrent of optimism in the way I reach out. My tales are no longer about relishing milestones; they are about cherishing moments.
Mangal: Coping with Cancer is built around the stories of other Indian patients and caregivers, not only your own account. Why was it important that it not be only your story?
Ramen: If I had stuck to my account, the book would read more like a memoir. I wanted Coping with Cancer to be much more than that: a handbook of strategies and insights drawn from real-life experiences rooted in the Indian milieu. A compendium that would help patients and caregivers manage their emotions and feelings, and navigate the chaos unleashed by cancer.
Mangal: What would be your advice to someone who has just been handed a diagnosis of cancer?
Ramen: I would share the following insights :
Invest in relationships. In the rodent race called life, we often forget to forge and strengthen relationships. You have heard of an Anytime Money, or ATM, card. I have created a new card: the ATM, or ‘Anytime Memory’, card. The most precious gift you can give your family and friends is not money or things that money can buy. It is a bundle of memories, each a gossamer fabric of fun and togetherness. And how is this fabric created? With two four-letter words: Love & Time. So go ahead, create memories and stock up your new ATM. And whenever there is a crisis, ‘encash’ it.
Live in the present moment. In cancer, the only certainty is uncertainty. I make every attempt to live in the ‘here and now’, free from the regret of the past and the anxiety of the future. I don’t wait for the light at the end of the tunnel. I rush forward, grab it and try to share it with everyone.
Take humour seriously. My mantra in any crisis has been ‘managing every tumour with humour’. While I was battling cancer, an aged relative of mine called Madhavi and said, “Why is Ramen indulging in all this nonsense on social media? He is making a mockery of cancer. If he continues, he will die in bits and pieces.”
I told Madhavi, “Please reply to him that I will not allow the lack of a colon to put a period, a comma or even a semicolon to my humour and creativity!
Also convey to him that I believe in two great philosophers – Gabbar, who said in 1975, ‘Jo darr gaya samjho mar gaya’, and Pushpa, who declared in 2022, ‘Main jhukega nahin’.”
Publishing, Reach and Reward
Mangal: Your stories have been translated into 33 languages and travelled into textbooks and audio across countries, even into Kamishibai in Japan. What, according to you, is the essence of effective translation?
Ramen: The translated version should be as close to the author’s original voice as possible. More importantly, while rendering the text into another language, the translator should ensure that it is a transcreation, not a transliteration. For instance, in one of my satires, there was the phrase ‘Achilles’ heel’. The translator rendering it into Hindi used the term ‘Ravan’s nabhi (navel)’. Now, this is what I call perfect transcreation.
Mangal: After more than fifty books, what still surprises you about the author journey, the writing, the publishing, or the reaching of readers?
Ramen: An author’s journey is like a roller coaster. There are ups and downs, twists and turns, shocks and surprises. It can move from a dream to a nightmare and back again in a matter of hours. But at the end of it all, I think every author will say it was worth it. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mangal: What is the most rewarding thing a child or a fellow cancer warrior has shared with you?
Ramen: Some years ago I had gone to a juvenile jail in Rourkela. There I narrated a story to the young inmates, danced with them and shared lunch. As I was leaving, I felt a soft tug. I looked down. An eight-year-old boy was standing with a wistful look in his eyes. “Uncleji, aap phir kab aaoge (when will you come again?”
Two days after my radiation, when patients find it difficult to walk, my daughter Ankita proposed that we do a dance video. We changed seven costumes and jived to the eighties chartbuster ‘Jawaani Jaaneman haseen dilruba’. Ankita posted the video on Instagram and invited her followers to root for me. A couple of days later, I got a message from a youngster who said his dad was suffering from a disease of the arteries and used a wheelchair. However, when he saw my video, he got up and attempted to walk! This was easily the most heartwarming message I received.
Mangal: To a person just starting a hard season of life or an author just starting, would you give the same advice or two different ones?
Ramen: To a person starting a hard season of life, I would repeat the suggestions I gave earlier. To an author just starting, my advice would be :
To an author just starting out, my advice would be:
- If you want to be a writer, make writing your Ikigai, your passion.
- Read. Read. Read.
- Writing is all about imagination, observation and experience. And the more you enhance these aspects, the better you will turn out as a writer.
- Writing is about ideas. As a writer, you should always be in the space of creativity, forever open to all these tiny sparks flying around. And if you cannot jot them down, record them on your cell phone and, whenever you get the chance, transcribe them.
- Don’t wait for an ideal scenario to write. Just write whenever and wherever you can.
- Don’t ever talk down to a reader, especially if she is a young reader.
- Never fear rejection. It is part and parcel of writing. From Rowling to Ramen, everyone has faced it. Even after 55 books, I can never be sure my 55th will be accepted. I still feel the same anxiety mixed with hope. And if it is rejected, I spend some time pitying the intellect of the editor and simply send it to someone else.
- Write in as many genres as possible. For instance, I have written in various categories, from picture books to young adult fiction, and explored themes and forms including humour, fables, folk tales, fantasies, realistic fiction, biographies, graphic novels based on the POCSO Act, the JJ Act and diabetes, travelogues, parenting, satire, poetry and ghazals. If I get bored writing in one genre, I switch to another. That is why, though I am a blockhead, I don’t suffer from writer’s block.
Mangal: Can you share a bit about your latest book which was launched on 16th July?
Ramen: My book number 55 titled ‘It Takes A Tribe: 25 Inspiring Tribal Leaders of India ’, has been published by Hachette India, part of one of the world’s leading publishing Houses
It took me more than two years to research and write this book. I have endeavoured to go beyond dry facts and showcase the stories of extraordinary tribal heroes, freedom fighters, athletes and changemakers whose courage, resilience and vision helped shape the story of our nation.
- From Tilka Manjhi, Birsa Munda and Rani Gaidinliu to Mary Kom, Dilip Tirkey, Gaura Devi, Poorna Malavath and many others, this book celebrates people who refused to give up, dared to dream and changed the world around them.
- I have tried to make each story warm, engaging and a page-turner, and I hope the readers enjoy the book as much as I loved writing it.