Vice-President Releases Memoir ‘Dancing with Joy’

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan released Dancing with Joy, an inspirational memoir written by Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, at Uprashtrapathi Bhavan. The author is a well-known classical dancer and writer who also served as an officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service.

What the book is about

The Vice-President called the memoir far more than a story about dance and joy, describing it as an account of passion, hard work and resilience, and of the strength a person draws from finding and nurturing a talent. The book traces the author's journey through cancer, and he said it reads as a story of life beyond cancer rather than a book about the disease. Picking up the memoir's own line that the letter D in DANCER helped its author overcome the letter C in cancer, he said years of discipline, learning and dedication in dance had become her core strength when she faced one of life's hardest tests.

The message he drew from it

• A deeply nurtured passion can act as an anchor in the most difficult moments and turn adversity into self-discovery.
• Success and failure are two sides of one coin, and every setback is a chance to learn, reflect and return with fresh determination.
• Talent is a gift, but only sustained learning, practice and commitment turn it into excellence.
• Awareness, early detection and timely treatment save lives from cancer.
• Families and volunteers give patients emotional strength and care, often at considerable personal and financial cost.

Cancer care figures he cited

He said preventive healthcare, awareness and early screening are being strengthened through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs and the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, and that the spread of cancer care facilities across States is bringing specialised treatment nearer to patients. He also noted the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign launched in February 2026, which aims to protect about 1.2 crore young girls against cervical cancer and under which over 50 lakh girls have already been vaccinated.

Who attended

Among those present were the Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Dr. Sandhya Purecha; the Chairman of the Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, Dr. P. Raghu Ram; and the Member Secretary of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, along with doctors, cancer specialists and cancer survivors.