Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan today launched My Joys and Sorrows – as a Mother of a Special Child, a book written by the widely published author Dr Krishna Saksena.

Dr HarshVardhan said that he feels lucky to read this crisp book. He was inspired by the simple language used by Dr Saksena.

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“This book is an epitome of the bravery and endurance of a mother, in the best tradition of Indian motherhood. Like the country, we must pay our respects to such a mother. Not just mothers, I expect fathers to read this book to learn about parenting a child and parenting a generation.”

My Joys and Sorrows as a Mother of a Special Child (Ocean Books, Delhi, 2021) is a heart-warming and yet heart-rending book that is difficult to read because it inevitably makes you cry. And yet it must be read because it shows the heroism and sacrifices of an Indian mother and makes us realise that so-called normal life is not to be taken for granted. It is a learning and spiritual experience reading the book. It shows the power of pure love and faith. The book is written in a conversational and easy-going style, making us feel like participants in the author’s life journey.

Dr Krishna Saksena has been a teacher by vocation. She writes the book as an autobiography, both her own and her differently-abled son Shiv, who could not write his own story.

The chapters of the book follow the chronology of her son’s life which is also her own life. It begins from the moment when the family first realizes that Shiv is not like any other child. Life changes for good, for everybody, but most of all for the mother. Shiv’s growing up story is also the story of the author’s evolution into an amazingly patient, spiritual and generous person.

On the journey of writing the book, Dr Krishna Saksena recalls, “I had never imagined I could have written of my life with Shiv. It felt too much my own, my most intimate experiences. But with age, I realized that it is also my responsibility to give voice to a child who has no voice of his own. And his voice is so entangled with my own that this book could not have been but an autobiography of two selves as one.”