Until the summer of 2018, everything was going fine with Shormistha Mukherjee, a creative advertising professional. Shormistha was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and underwent radiation, chemotherapy and was on medication. At that time she received support from her family and friends to fight an unexpected battle that struck at the peak of her career, off-setting her goals.
Faith and determination kept her going and with a timely medical treatment, she was able to defeat the dreadful disease.
“I have come out stronger from this condition. Every day is a blessing and the value of everything around me has increased more than ever. Almost like a second innings, this phase has brought a new outlook on life where I try to make the best of every moment” says Shormistha.
A new chapter is a result of her positive approach, dealing with the situation one day at a time and badass attitude. After going through a difficult phase, Shormistha is firmly back in her role as Co-Founder in her digital agency ‘Flying Cursor Interactive’.
During the COVID-19 lockdown period, Shormistha reconnected with history by attending virtual classes and listening to people at online webinar’s. And the moment cycling activity was permitted by the state government, Shormistha took out her bicycle did what she loved to do the most – ‘Time Travel to History’.
Shormistha takes up leisure cycling tours visiting the colonial past and soaking in the fine architectural work carried out in the Portuguese-British era. Her trails are unique, chasing the city’s yesteryear period and documenting them in her writings and photographs. One day, she intends to advance her story logs into a book.
Cycling for Shormistha is a ‘Healing Mechanism’. She has been cycling from a young age, to school, college and now leisure. Even a week before her cancer treatment commenced, she continued to cycle and followed up with celebratory rides once she was completely diagnosed and declared fit by the doctors.
Shormistha’s exploratory bike rides are meaningful and fulfilling. She has guided herself into theme rides such as museums, old cinema halls, café’s, fishing colonies and much more hidden in the by lanes of Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai among other cities.
As she grew up, her family re-located a several times due to the nature of her father’s job profile. This allowed Shormistha a taste of varied Indian cultures, traditions and languages. Now, she is taking novice lessons in Urdu language and progressing on the path to become multi-lingual.
Her interest’s extends to being crazy about animals, yoga, hoola hooping and Shormistha loves wearing a Sari and doesn’t mind pairing it up with sneakers. She’s also in the process of completing her book on her journey with breast cancer.
The story of Shormistha is an exemplary one for those who find themselves to be underdogs and must not lose hope.
She ends our discussion with an inspiring quote by Christopher Reeve “Once you choose hope anything is possible”.
Connect with Shormistha on her instagram page @agentgreenglass
Photo credits: Shormistha Mukherjee
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Author: Vijay Malhotra, Mumbai
Some interesting photos there. Well done Shormistha. That’s a great quote about choosing hope.