99 Posts In...

We're about to complete two years with this blog in May, though we only partnered up a little less than a year ago. Good thing too because can you imagine how much longer it would have taken a lazy, albeit creative Afsha to touch 100 posts all by herself?

As we enter this week, we're looking forward to Post # 100 which we think you, our readers, will find quite engaging. Won't say no more here. You're just going to have to wait and see. All we can say is make sure you have your iPods handy.

In this, our 99th Post, we'd like to leave with with a little flashback featuring the five most popular posts on The Caterpillar Cafe to date. They have the highest all time hits on our blog. But if you have a personal favourite that isn't featured in this list, do link us to it in the comments section. Do it. Do it!

Anyway, here goes in descending order:

#5: We introduced guest posts last year with this review by Firdaus Variava and we're really proud to announce that it ranked fifth on The Caterpillar Cafe. Thanks for contributing Fido! Our readers love you just as much as we do. Review | The Emperor of all Maladies

#4: This isn't quite related to books or literature per say but our blog does make an exception sometimes to make way for the voices in our heads. At number four we have Afsha Khan's misadventure in Germany with Flight of the SatNav Lady

#3: She surged ahead with shrewd confidence in the cut-throat world of investment banking. But who knew that beneath all those layers of numbers, figures and other stuff these bankers do that us normal folk don't understand, there lay a shy, sensitive poet? The first ever poem published on The Caterpillar Cafe by Reshma Krishnan, who hasn't looked back since, was well received by our readers. A Poem for No one

#2: "This is a honeycomb world. It hides a hollow heart." Need we say more? Author Spotlight | John Connolly

#1: Both Reshma and Afsha attempted this book and couldn't go beyond a certain point because of how disturbing they found the mother-daughter duo in The Piano Teacher. Curse their perfectly sweet, doting mothers, who left them unable to relate to Erika's deep-rooted insecurities, irrational attachments and psychologically manipulative mother! A Soul Burning Read | The Piano Teacher

Finally, before moving forward, we would really like to thank all our readers who have kept us going these past two years with their comments, encouragement and sometimes, by just lurking for a post or two before moving on to other reads. It doesn't hurt to say 'hi' but it's quite all right if you're still too shy. Keep reading.

Review | The Emperor of all Maladies

Don't you just love Mondays? Neither do we. Guest post # 1 for the Caterpillar Cafe. We enjoyed reading it and if you have the book, feel free to lend it to us. Love - Us.

I finished reading The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee about a week ago, but like all good books, this one has been kept within easy reach for re-picking, reference and rumination. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction 2011, but I didn’t get around to reading it for quite a while, simply because I thought it might be a tad disturbing and full of gory case studies of mankind’s greatest killer – Cancer.

Nothing could be further from the truth. While the book’s subject matter is grim, with the incidence of cancer growing decade by decade, the treatment of the subject by Siddhartha is done in a manner that is thought provoking instead of terrifying. Through his eyes we discover the history of cancer, the many efforts to treat it, and how technology has played a great role in combating this disease.

However, he is quick to underscore the fact that cancer by its very nature is stitched into our genome. A cancer cell is one where its genes have spiralled out of control, and all the switches relating to growth have been jammed on permanently. We can rid ourselves of cancer then, only by limiting the processes in our bodies that depend on growth and regeneration - an impossible task.

He deals with the fact that while we understand much more about the nature and functioning of our cells, and while specific cures have been engineered to fix some of those broken “switches”, the end of cancer is not in sight. This is because cancer itself is evolving. Like a smarter version of us, it finds a way to thwart the cures and keep surviving in the body.

One section describes the greatest cause of cancer (you guessed it) – smoking. Tobacco is a potent carcinogen. Lungs form pre-cancerous lesions from layer upon layer of tar which irritate the membranes - the longer one smokes, the greater the risk of cancer. When the layers of tar and lesions have grown too many, cancer springs up. And then of course, it moves very swiftly, spreads throughout the body and kills you in a gruesome manner.

He concludes the book with some upbeat stories of those who have waged war on the cancer in their bodies, and have lived to tell the tale, thus holding out the hope that as our understanding of the cells in our bodies progresses, and technology improves, we should be able to find more cures which will not be as damaging to the patient’s body as the current ones – namely radiation and chemotherapy. From being a disease that was virtually untreatable at the turn of the century, some cancer cures have progressed to the point that simply taking a pill every day can keep a patient in remission for the rest of his life.

I highly recommend reading this book simply because we will all come face to face with this disease in our lifetimes –  directly or through our friends and family. Understanding its nature will go a long way to removing the horror of the unknown. Buy The Emperor Of All Maladies: A Biography Of Cancer from Flipkart.com

P.S. This review was written by our friend, Firdaus Variava, who divides his time between the video games that he plays at work and being a Daddy Blogger. Jump to his blog by clicking here: Delirious Daddy.