Bravery in the face of adversity that is what the eminent professor of law Prof Ramesh Chandra Srivastava, 76, exemplifies. When diagnosed with Multiple Myelomas (Blood Cancer) he not only defied the disease but also wrote a book about it while he was undergoing chemotherapy, the cancer treatment which is dubbed worse than the disease.
The frail looking affable Srivastava turned out to possess nerves of steel when confronted by the frightening disease. The book ‘Principles of Law of Contract’ was written with poison flowing through his veins that drained him of energy, incapacitated him with nausea, vomiting, fatigue and what not.
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Soft spoken, suave and having a calm bearing, Prof Srivastava showed resilience in the face of deadly disease.
On the occasion of book launch on Tuesday at Hotel Imperial, in the capital, Prof Srivastava said, ‘I do not fear for my life. My only wish is to leave behind as much for posterity as I can. When I was diagnosed with cancer, the first worry that crossed my mind was what would happen to my project of book writing. I want to be in harness till my last breath. This was also the wish of my departed wife. She would often tease me saying ‘your students eulogise you for your teaching and you feel puff up by this much only. Why don’t you write books? ’ speaking to Medicare news.
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Now he has two more books in the pipeline. The current book was published by Bloomsbury, which has launched the Harry Potter series. The event was graced by Shiv Pratap Shukla , Union Minister of State, Finance, Dr Anurag Batra, Chairman, Business World Media Group and many others from law fraternity who spoke highly of his popularity as a professor of law in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vishwavidyal, Gorakhpur. Renowned journalist K.G. Suresh named him an icon and saluted his fighting spirit.
His eldest son Swadeep Srivastava, a well known health policy expert and healthcare entrepreneur, said, ‘He is indefatigable. After his retirement, he was far from hanging his boots. In fact, his real career began after his retirement. In place of calling it quits, he became more intense in his academic endeavour. My father came to Delhi to stay with us and started teaching in a law coaching institute in Noida, taking a number of classes in a day. Even cancer could not stall him in his tracks. He is infinitely inspirational for us in the family. I was astonished to see him get down to writing book in between chemotherapy sessions,’ he told Medicare News.
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