Dreams, angels and near-death experiences

Rashmi Bansal's 'Follow Every Rainbow', Anita Moorjani's 'Dying To Be Me' and Doreen Virtue's 'Angel Therapy' give interesting view points on Indian women, cancer and angels, respectively

Did you know that the clothing line 'Biba' was set up by a Vizag-based Navy Officer's wife? Or the trendy bag brand 'Baggit' was thought up by the owner as she was taking a shower? All this and more interesting trivia one learns when you read Rashmi Bansal's 'Follow Every Rainbow'.

My personal take away from the book is that, even while being a wife and mother it is possible to pursue one's dreams. I particularly liked how Rashmi Bansal divided the book into sections that personify the Indian woman. In the sense there is a section titled 'Lakshmi', another one 'Durga' and yet another 'Saraswathi'. What is truly heartening is the fact that many of the women featured have been through bad emotional upheavals and still have emerged winners.

The next book on the list has a foreword written by Wayne Dyer himself, so in that sense Anita Moorjani is a writer with a very important message to convey. 'Dying To Be Me' is a real life testimony of a cancer survivor and her near death experience. Anita Moorjani, the Hong Kong-based Sindhi lady, was diagnosed with stage 4, lymphatic cancer and was bed ridden for almost four years of her life. The writer says that she clearly remembers leaving her body, the very day she was wheeled into an ICU.

The descriptions that Anita Moorjani gives, goes beyond words. In the sense, once she leaves her body, the writer claims that time simply ceased to exist. As in, she found herself observing a host of events taking place almost simultaneously. In the sense, a part of her was listening to the conversation by senior doctors taking place at the far end of the hospital corridor, 20 feet away from her body, another part of her was aware of her brother boarding a flight from Mumbai to come to Hong Kong and yet another part of Anita, became aware of her best friend who had passed away from cancer a few years ago.

The basic message that Moorjani tries to convey is that, while here on earth we become so encased in our bodies that we forget that we are actually of the same consciousness. Any disease is in fact an imbalance in the mind which manifests itself in the body. Modern medicine usually treats only the symptoms altogether ignoring the cause which led to the illness in the first place. This is especially true, considering 93 per cent of all illnesses are psychosomatic, meaning they have their roots in the mind. Perhaps, the most bizarre line I have read is that cancer is sometimes the body's way of crying for attention, since it's only ailments of the body that are taken special care of, hurts in the mind are simply ignored. Pretty profound, isn't it? Finally, we have Doreen Virtue's 'Angel Therapy'.

Believe it or not, the first part of the book has actually been dictated by the angels and this is believable simply since the writing style has almost other worldly feel to it. All of Doreen Virtue's books have a special quality to them which is that they almost speak to the reader. The Esoteric sciences are such that without meaning to, an author can sound very patronising, but not so with Doreen Virtue. I've come to realise that books that involve angels or near death scenarios can hardly be read. These books have to be experienced. I rest my case.