Shalini's medical bulletin - Update, February 22, 2013

The 4th dose of the first round of the changed chemotherapy was administered to Com. Shalini in the Dharmshila hospital on February 21. She is still on liquid diet due to the continued vomiting. Dr. Anish Maru who is supervising her treatment says that she would feel vomiting sensation for the next 2-3 days due to the side effect of chemotherapy. She has to again visit the hospital on 7th March for the next round of chemotherapy. Her homeopathy treatment is continuing and a part of the fruit therapy (the liquid part) has been restarted. Meanwhile we have sent Shalini's medical reports to all those doctors from Delhi, Mumbai and abroad with whom we have been taking consultation since the beginning. In the field of allopathic health-care, all the doctors have so far given us the opinion that the treatment going on in the Dharmshila hospital is accurate and in this condition the same treatment would be administered anywhere else as well. Yet, after the third chemotherapy we would go to the institutes of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to take consultation from the doctors. Several friends have given us suggestions regarding alternative treatments. If, with the consultation of the experienced friends, it is possible to carry on any of them along with the current treatment, we would start them as well.

Shalini's medical bulletin - Update, February 21, 2013

Com. Shalini was admitted to the Dharmshila hospital on 13th February for the second round of chemotherapy. She had a complaint of vomiting sensation. In the earlier reports there were indications that the primary site of cancer was in the ovary/EHB System. Serum 19.9 which was increased to 9089 earlier has shot up to 55801 which is an indication of the spread of the disease.  

The tumour board of the hospital discussed the issue again and decided to change the chemotherapy. She was administered with 3 doses of chemotherapy between 14 and 16th February. Also, medicines were given for the recurrent vomiting after which there was improvement in her condition. According to the doctors, Shalini tolerated the chemotherapy very well and she was discharged from the hospital in a stable condition on 17th February. The 4th dose is expected to be given on 21st February. Meanwhile her homeopathy treatment is also continuing. However, due to being admitted in the hospital and the vomiting sensation there was a gap of 6 days in taking the fruit therapy.

Shalini's Medical Bulletin – Update, 11 February 2013

Since the primary site of the cancer could not be confirmed in the report of biopsy conducted on 23rd January, Immunohistochemistry tests were conducted on the basis of the same biopsy. We received the report of these tests on 5th February seeing which the doctors said that the primary site could be somewhere in the Extra Hepatic Biliary System. But they are of the view that on its basis there is no need to change the medicine in the next round of chemotherapy or any other change in the treatment.

Owing to the tumour, the problem of stomach being filled with Acitic fluid remains intact and since the last chemotherapy Shalini had to be taken to the hospital twice for removing the fluid. Doctors hope that there would be reduction in it after the second round of chemo. Meanwhile there has been some improvement in Shalini's symptoms; as compared to earlier now she can take some food and can drink some amount of water, but the pain in the body has gone up. Also, the side effects of chemotherapy have begun to surface.

She has been continuously taking the homeopathic medicine and Dr. Jitendra Sharma has been giving the consultation from time to time. Fruit therapy is going on as well. Shalini has to be admitted to the hospital on the morning of 13th February where some tests would be performed before administering the chemotherapy.

So far, all the experts with whom we could take consultation have this to say that the ongoing treatment in the Dharmshila hospital is absolutely fine and the same treatment would be performed if she is taken to any other place. But as far as possible we are continuously trying to take consultation from other experts as well. At the same time we are also exploring other alternative health-care options. If some friends know about any effective and empirically proved treatment, kindly do let us know.

Shalini's medical bulletin - February 2, 2013

It was in the second week of January that we got to know that Shalini has cancer. On the basis of the tests conducted in Lucknow between 9th and 13th January, doctors told us that it was the third stage of ovarian cancer. After this she was re-examined in the Dharmshila hospital in Delhi. During this re-examination the doctors found that her cancer is overgrown and metastasis (the process of spreading of the cancerous cells to other parts of the body) has begun in the bones. Even after several tests being performed since 18th January, the doctors are yet not able to say with certainty as to what is the source of cancer. But they feel that it is not a simple case of ovarian cancer.

Even after the biopsy conducted on 23rd January, it could not ascertained. But the doctors started with chemotherapy on 23rd itself. The report of Immuno-histochemistry tests based on the same biopsy would be made available on 4th February which would hopefully confirm the source of cancer. On the basis of this report there could be a change in the medicine in the next round of chemotherapy.

According to the doctors, curative treatment of Shalini's cancer is not possible and they can only provide palliative treatment (for extending the life span and giving relief from symptoms). She was given the first dose of chemotherapy on 23-24 January. Doctors say that based on the response of the three rounds of chemotherapy with an interval of 21 days, they would take decision about the subsequent treatment. Owing to the pelvic tumour, Shalini's stomach gets filled with ascitic fluid which needs to be removed at the interval of 3-4 days. She has become weak and she suffers from body-ache.

All the reports of Shalini have been sent to several experts including Dr. Seema Medhi of Tata Memorial Cancer Institute Mumbai, Dr. Murad E. Lala of Hinduja hospital Mumbai, Dr. Hemant Malhotra of Leelavati Hospital Mumbai, Dr. Prontik Das who is doing research on clinical oncology in Ireland and Dr. Arup Manglik from US and all of them believe that the ongoing treatment is appropriate and fine. The new reports in future will also be sent to these experts for their opinion. At the same time we are also trying to take the opinion of the doctors of the Rotary Medical Centre of AIIMS and the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute.

Meanwhile we have also started homeopathic treatment for Shalini. Dr. Jitendra Sharma from Jagadhari (Haryana) is confident that Shalini will benefit from his treatment. He has successfully treated some serious cancer patients and from last few months he is also treating a patient suffering from metastatic cancer and this treatment is yielding beneficial result. Dr. Sharma is a Marxist and apart from being aware of the modern health-care techniques he also understands the limitations of homeopathy and he is also aware about the research and development in this field. He remains in touch with Shalini over phone and gives the necessary suggestions.

Besides, Shalini is also provided with fruit therapy in which the pulp of a food named Guyabano or soursop and the tea made of its leaves need to be taken on regular basis. In the decade of 1970s the National Cancer Institute of America had undertaken a research on the impact of this fruit, which is found in the rainforests of Latin America and South-East Asia, on cancer and it was found that as compare to chemotherapy it has manifold impact and contrary to chemotherapy it only kills the cancer cells. Later on it was confirmed in the researches conducted in Perdue University and the Catholic University of South Korea. It has been mentioned in the several articles available on many websites that these researches have been put on hold under the pressure of the multinational pharmaceutical companies which earn trillions of dollars through the cancer medicines. One of the multinational companies itself carried out a lengthy research on it, but having realised that it would not be possible to convert these natural elements into the patentable chemical components, it stopped the research and its outcome were suppressed. It is due to the pressure of the pharmaceutical companies only that it has not been able to make it popular. However, throughout the world. many people are using this independently. Alvi Herbs from Hyderabad which supplies this fruit by ordering from Brazil says that its impact would be discernible even in the medical tests within 4 weeks.

It is important to clarify at this point that the above alternative medical facilities are being used along with the allopathic treatment going on in the Dharmshila hospital under the supervision of Dr. Kamlesh Mishra and Dr. Anish Maru and they are aware of it. It will not impede the main treatment in any way. Even in future if we come to know about any better alternative medical facitlity, it would be adopted only if it does not impede the main treatment.

To My Party - Pablo Neruda

You have given me fraternity toward the unknown man.
You have joined the strength of all the living.
You have given me the country again as in a birth.
You have given me the freedom that the loner cannot have.
You taught me to kindle kindness, like fire.
You have given me the rectitude that the tree requires.
You taught me to see the unity and the difference among mankind.
You showed me how one being's pain has perished in the victory of all.
You taught me to sleep in beds hard as my brothers.
You made me build on reality as on a rock.
You made me adversary of the evildoer and wall of the frantic.
You have made me see the world's clarity and the possibility of happiness.
You have made me indestructible because with you I do not end in myself.

An appeal to friends and comrades to save the life of a revolutionary

Friends and comrades,

Com. Shalini is fighting a battle of life and death with metastatic cancer. We are trying our very best to make the most advanced treatments available to her. Currently, she is undergoing treatment at Dharmshila Cancer Hospital and Research Center, Delhi. We are also receiving consultations from specialists at Tata Memorial Cancer Institute, Hinduja Hospital, Leelavati Hospital (Mumbai) as well as from Ireland and the US. Apart from that, we are also trying alternative therapies.

Com. Shalini joined the Left revolutionary movement at a very young age. Since 1995 her life was fully devoted to the tasks of the revolution. During this period, she was active on the student front as well as the women and cultural fronts. She has been a strong pillar of all our projects (Janchetna, Rahul Foundation, Parikalpna, Anurag Trust) involving publication and distribution of progressive literature. She is the President of Janchetna society, an Executive Committee member of Rahul Foundation, the Director of Parikalpana and one of the Trustees of Anurag Trust. Her revolutionary life of 18 years has been an example of a militant, uncompromising revolutionary life full of sacrifices and based on unflinching dedication to her principles. We are committed to protect this valuable life.

However, we need the help of all our friends, comrades and progressive, democratic, leftist intellectuals and sensitive civilians. The treatment of this type of cancer is highly expensive in India. Hence, we are making an urgent appeal to save the life of a revolutionary.

A clarification is required here: we will not take any help for this purpose from the government, capitalist enterprises, foreign funded NGOs or political parties. Any contribution from an unknown source will also not be acceptable. This is our principle and Com. Shalini's strong wish. We only seek the help of those comrades and well-wishers, who despite minor or major political differences believe in our revolutionary integrity and honesty. Com. Shalini has also urged that she would not accept any type of financial assistance from her family members as she has broken all relations with her family years ago after the destructive anti-revolutionary activities of her father. We shall undoubtedly respect her sentiments. We are hopeful of the support of comrades, friends and well-wishers from all over the country to save the life of a young revolutionary. Friends willing to extend a helping hand may contact us here:

Phone: 9910462009 / 8853093555; E-mail: satyamvarma@gmail.com;
For correspondence: Satyam, Flat No.: 250, MIG, Sector-28, Rohini, Delhi-110085

After you contact us, we will immediately intimate you the necessary details for sending cheque/draft/money order or doing an account transfer.

With revolutionary greetings,

– Activists of Janchetna, Rahul Foundation, Parikalpna, Anurag Trust, Arvind Memorial Trust, Stree Mukti League, Disha Student's Organisation, Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Bigul Mazdoor Dasta

Com. Shalini: A Revolutionary Life

Shalini in a program at Janchetna, Lucknow

Comrade Shalini's political life began in her teens, when in 1995 she went from Lucknow to Gorakhpur to participate in a month-long cultural workshop and a three-day Shaheed Mela (programme organised in memory of the martyrs) . After this, she started living in a commune with young woman comrades in Gorakhpur. Shalini worked on the women's front, cultural front and the student's front while she was in the commune for three years. Meanwhile she completed her Masters course in ancient history from the University of Gorakhpur. She had already decided in 1995 to work as a fulltime revolutionary worker.


During 1998-99, Shalini moved to Lucknow and started participating in the publication of Marxist literature from Rahul Foundation and other activities. From 1999 to 2001 she looked after the Janchetna bookshop in Gorakhpur, regularly organising street exhibitions, door-to-door campaigns and various other things to promote pro-people literature. She worked as the incharge of the Janchetna centre in Allahabad from November 2002 to December 2003. Since 2004, she has been looking after the responsibilities of the central office and book shop of Janchetna in Lucknow. Apart from this, she has also been assisting in the publication activities of Parikalpana, Rahul Foundation and Anurag Trust. Along with looking after the activities at the main offices of Anurag Trust (library, reading room, children's workshops etc.), Com. Shalini cared for the veteran activist and main trustee of Anurag Trust, late Com. Kamla Pandey with the affection and dedication befitting a true communist. When in 2011, it was decided to build the central library of the Arvind Memorial Trust in Lucknow, it was again Shalini who handled the main responsibility.

Presently, she is the president of the society who runs Janchetna Books, member of the board of trustees of Anurag Trust, executive member of Rahul Foundation and a director of Parikalpana publications. It is noteworthy that besides shouldering all these departmental responsibilities, Shalini has also been an active participant of general political propaganda activities and agitational actions as much as possible.

Com. Shalini is a hard-working, young communist organiser with a rich experience of eighteen years of difficult and turbulent political life full of ups and downs. She is unwavering in her belief in communism and has always been tenacious and hard-working like a labourer in her political work. Meanwhile, many have shown their backs in the battlefield. Many have comprised, left the ranks to wallow in the mire of decadence, settling in cozy nests, even preaching pragmatism to others or becoming peddlers of opportunist politics. None of these could ever affect Shalini who has remained resolute on her path. She never looked back or compromised once she decided her goal in life. Even when her father degenerated due to his vested interests and class arrogance and started a campaign of slandering and character-assassination, Shalini completely broke her relations with him without a second's delay. The firmness with which Shalini made a decisive rupture with all property relations despite coming from a usurer, trader and landlord family and the earnestness with which she adopted communist values, are rare and exemplary today.

Today, this brilliant comrade is fighting a decisive battle with dangerous metastatic cancer. We are sure that not only us, but every progressive intellectual and sensitive citizen, all well-wishers of our ideological-political-cultural experiments and our work on children's front will also wish that our young comrade wins this battle. We are trying to provide her the most advanced medical facilities for the treatment of cancer available today. We are also trying alternative therapies. The treatment is going on in Delhi but we are also sending the medical reports to experts in Mumbai, Chennai, Ireland and US and are receiving consultations from them. All this is possible because of the collective efforts of comrades and friends. And their financial contributions. Certainly, there will be no dearth of progressive left, democratic people who would wish to save this precious life. As you know, the treatment will be a long one and very expensive. We want all the help and assistance from all co-travelers and well-wishers in this campaign.

My Last Wish

(A Revolutionary's Will)

  – Shalini

Communists fight every battle with all their might.

I know – metastatic cancer is a deadly disease
So I am fighting it with all my willpower.
I want to live my life to the fullest and I do believe
That my will to live will defeat even death
And even if it does not happen
I will prove in any case that
True revolutionaries neither give up in the face of hard times
Nor surrender before death like a coward.


I believe in my determination and combativeness
And I know that I have to win this battle and
Return to the front, to hold which till my last breath
Is a commitment made to my soul.
So, there is every possibility that this last wish of mine,
This ideological testament of mine
Might become meaningless tomorrow,
But even after fighting valiantly till the last breath,
Like a true communist,
If I have to fall,
I want to leave this letter of my last wish
For my comrades and friends.

I know I have to defeat cancer.
I have the love and pain of my comrades with me.
I have to get back to rejoin the ongoing war against capital
On my front, for the sake of coming generations.
But if this is not going to be possible,
My comrades will ensure that
My body is untouched by the dirty hands of those
Who threw dirt on our red flag
Who vilified and slandered against our experiments
Built through hard work and sacrifices of numerous comrades,
Who defamed 'Janchetna' and our publications
By saying these are profit-churning enterprises, even though they know the truth.
The vermin must not be allowed to come near my body
Who indulged in the filthiest mudslinging against us and tried their best to spread
Poisonous fumes of suspicion and distrust among communist ranks
To cover up their own degeneration.
These deserters who fled to hide in their dens in the hard times
Shamelessly talk of principles.
Some are degenerate opportunists who still run political shops
To satisfy their egos and make a living.
This abominable gang has even used death and disease of comrades
As a political weapon to target us.
Even my filthy rich father is a part of this gang
Who blinded by his class arrogance and vested interests
Has tried everything possible to damage our work,
He has his own class commitments
And he will never change.
Comrades! You all must ensure
These people must never come close
To my body even after I am gone,
This is my last wish.


Comrades! I am not a daughter of working people.
I was born in a family of
Usurers, traders, landlords, parasitic moneybags.
As I gradually imbibed the spirit of communism,
I tried to think of myself as a daughter of working class,
And tried to work like a labourer on the revolutionary front.
I don't know how much I have been able to pay back the people's debt,
How much sins of my ancestors I have been able to wash away –
This will be judged by the coming generations.
I can only assure that
I have never thought of going back home,
I was never attracted by the idea of settling in a cosy nest,
And back away from the storms.
Like a normal communist
I too have had natural human weaknesses,
And even some class weaknesses inherited from my background.
I do not claim that I was never touched by pessimism,
Or I never had any grievance with my comrades,
But I can assure that I have always got satisfaction and happiness
In my efforts to become a better communist,
I love my comrades more than anything in the world
And trust them wholeheartedly
And I still love life with all my heart
And I want to live as much as I can.


That's why, I believe that victory will be mine
The cancer is bound to be decimated against my communist resolve
In this fight against death.
But I am ready like a true communist
To face every adversity
And that's why I am writing down my heartiest wish
That if I lose out in the battle of life
My body must be wrapped in our cherished red flag
And then it must be donated to a government hospital or medical institute
For the purpose of scientific research or to donate organs to poor and needy patients.
I will legally assign the responsibility for this to two of my comrades.
If this is not possible for any reason
My body should be taken to an electric crematorium
On the shoulders of my comrades
And my last rites must be performed without any religious rituals
With raised fists and the International being played.
It must also be ensured
That none of the degenerate renegades must be allowed to join
They must not be allowed to come near my body.
I know, those who say even today
That I have been "brainwashed" (which is the biggest abuse for me),
Will not refrain from using my death for their dirty politics,
Thus, it is necessary
That I write down my wish in clear terms.


Comrades! I do not await death
But to get back to my work.
Cancer can be defeated by
Positive attitude and firm resolve
And all possible treatments are going on.
But still if I am unable to return to my front,
There is nothing to worry,
I will remain present in your thoughts and determinations.
I know, you will turn grief into strength
To make up for my loss.
You can turn one into a hundred.
We have to save the children! Save the dreams!!
We have to wake up forgotten ideas,
And explore new thoughts!
We have to recruit new soldiers
And make the people realise once again
That they are the makers of history.
I may or may not be with you,
But this fight will go on, till victory comes.
The caravan will keep on going, until it reaches our destination.

-- 31/1/2013 

(Translated from Hindi)