Against All Odds

Adversity writes the best chapters of strength.

- Dr Veena Adige

Everyone has problems. Real ones, imaginary ones, big ones, small ones, solvable ones, unsolvable ones. Yet, each one reacts differently. There is no living soul without problems. But the way you react, the way you handle them, makes or mars your happiness.

Happiness comes from within. We have all seen happy people surrounded by problems and grumpy, unhappy ones amidst all comforts of money and relations.

I have had four near-death experiences. But I have bounced back, not allowing them to hamper my happiness. Two were health-related and the other two accidents. I have had skirmishes in my official life, but I have overcome them.

There is no formula, no advice on having a positive attitude, it has to come from experience. I have written about my life, the ups and downs, the charm and goodness. Read it and find out for yourselves.

Turning Adversity Into Opportunity

I have had many ups and downs in my life. I have had four near-death experiences and have survived to tell my tale.

As a Mumbai person, I had no chance of learning to cycle. Yet, when I lived in Nagpur, a powered two-wheeler became a necessity. I was attending morning college for a degree in Mass Communications, going to my newspaper office during the day, and balancing this with a family and home life.

My fifteen-year-old daughter Priya offered to teach me to drive a Luna (a powered gearless two-wheeler) and though I had to pay her and her friend a hefty lodex allowance, I managed to learn and drove it for many years.

However, one evening I had an accident where my left knee was injured and the doctor said, 'Six weeks of plaster and bed rest,' to my dismay. Here, I was, in the middle of an exciting job, interesting family life and an active social one, and had to be grounded.

I converted this miserable situation into fulfilling my ambition of writing a