Tahira Kashyap on how cancer changed her
Ayushmann Khurrana’s wife on coming to terms with losing her hair to cancer treatment
Writer-director and Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana’s wife Tahira Kashyap has talked more about her perspective on losing her hair to cancer treatment in a recent social media post.
Dedicating her post “to women of all shapes and sizes and to all those posts I get when they fret losing their hair during or after chemotherapy”, she wrote: “I am hoping there is a change in the perception of that one perfect flavour that we have always had.
“The last couple of months have been an extreme case of metamorphosis for me. And I am not categorising it whether it was from a caterpillar to a butterfly phase or vice-versa. I could be the larva or the pupa or any other intermediate stage as each phase is unique and special.
“But there is a deep sense of acceptance when it comes to the life cycle of this creature. Taking a ‘leaf’ from this caterpillar’s life, I feel I have undergone a tremendous change mentally and physically too.
“From my obsession with long hair, associating beauty with Rapunzel tresses, and hiding most of the time behind my hair (as I felt secure, lest my crooked nose, or freckles or pimples or simply not so chiselled face isn’t exposed) to losing my hair, wearing extensions and a cap, going bald to now a short crop, I am enjoying every phase because somehow with hair I lost my insecurity, my stupid notion of beauty and my complexes.”
She doesn’t know whether she will be keeping her long hair or not, “in either case I am not going to hide my face”.
“I have changed my own mindset and my biggest victory is changing the mindset and perception of my seven-year-old son, the next generation. From running to get a cap and placing it on my head when I was losing my hair and had a bald patch to proudly introducing me to his friends when I was bald or now with short hair, I feel I am a part of a change,” she added.
On September 22 last year, Kashyap revealed that she was detected with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) in her right breast with high grade malignant cells.