The book helped me understand my son better, says author of ‘Blaze: A Son’s Trial by Fire’

The book 'Blaze: A Son’s Trial by Fire' is the story of the journey of Divyansh Atman and his family after he was diagnosed with blood cancer.

(From L) Rudra Sharma, Senior Commissioning Editor, Rupa Publications; Sushil Poddar; Shekhar Gupta, ThePrint's Editor-in-Chief; Paresh Maity, Padma Shri recipient; and Nidhi Poddar, at the release of the book 'Blaze: A Son’s Trial by Fire' | Reeti Agarwal | ThePrint

New Delhi: “Divyansh is now with us through the blaze. Earlier the journey was about pain but now it’s an asset for us,” said Nidhi Poddar, author of Blaze: A Son’s Trial by Fire, during the release of the book at an event in New Delhi.

“Through the book and my journey I have come to know that if you share your pain with the world, it gets shared and becomes everyone’s,” Nidhi added.

Blaze: A Son’s Trial by Fire is the story of Divyansh Atman and his family’s journey after he was diagnosed with blood cancer. Divyansh died in 2019 at the age of 22 after fighting blood cancer for 10 years.

The book’s authors, Nidhi Poddar and Sushil Poddar, are Divyansh’s parents.

During the release of the book, Sushil said the journey involving the writing of the book enabled him to understand his son better. It was as if I have done a “PhD on my own son,” he said.

Sushil also said the story of his son has helped him witness the purity and pristine nature of motherhood along with its divinity.

“The story of my Divyansh has enabled me to learn more and more about my marriage and the conjugal nature of this relationship,” he said.

Authors have ‘brought their son to immortality’

The book has been published by Rupa Publications.

Shekhar Gupta, Padma Bhusan awardee and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ThePrint, and Paresh Maity, Padma Shri recipient, were guests of honour at the event.

While Maity drew a live painting of the cover of the book during its release, Gupta hoped that the book not just witnesses many more prints but also gets published in other languages so that more and more people can read it.

“This book is not a legacy he (Divyansh) has left behind. The legacy he has left behind are these parents, because look at the time, affection they have committed to it. They have brought their son to immortality with this book,” Gupta said.

Rudra Sharma, Senior Commissioning Editor, Rupa Publications, said, “The book has been a success even from the commercial point of view as it has entered into the third print run since it was first printed and has been in print for one and a half months now. It has also got a lot of attention in countries like the USA, UK and Israel- where Divyansh was for his treatment. The story of Divyansh should never go out of print.”

One of the readers of the book, Nitin Khanna, who was present at the event said, “Blaze is all about when we look the pain in naked rawness and then we transcend.”