<p class="title">Actor Manisha Koirala, who won a tough battle against ovarian cancer, feels the disease came into her life as a gift as her vision is now sharper, mind clearer and her perspective realigned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As she completes six years of being cancer-free, she shares her story - one marked by apprehensions, disappointments and uncertainties - and the lessons she learnt along the way.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In her memoir "Healed: How Cancer Gave Me a New Life", she talks about her treatment in the US and the care provided by the oncologists there to how she rebuilt her life once she returned home.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Manisha says her book is a result of intense soul-searching and she has plunged deep into the dark, bottomless pit of painful memories and woven a story out of them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It has taken a lot of courage to confront and relive my experiences. But I needed to do so in order to become a true storyteller for the readers’ sake as well as my own," she says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Manisha says for a decade, she had abused her body.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The poor lifestyle I had been leading made my body susceptible to diseases. Had it not been cancer, some other malady would have struck me. In hindsight, on a dark, lonely night, I still wonder what it could have been and whether it would have been better or worse," the book, co-authored with Neelam Kumar and published by Penguin Random House, says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I think cancer came into my life as a gift. My vision is sharper, my mind clearer, my perspective realigned. I have succeeded in transforming my passive-aggressive anger and anxiety into more peaceful expressions," Manisha writes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She says post-recovery, she has succeeded in transforming her passive-aggressive anger and anxiety into more peaceful expressions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Born into the prominent Koirala family in Nepal, Manisha made her Bollywood debut with "Saudagar" in 1991 and went on to act in films like "1942: A Love Story", "Akele Hum Akele Tum", "Bombay", "Khamoshi: The Musical", "Dil Se", "Mann", "Lajja" and "Company".</p>.<p class="bodytext">She took a break from acting in 2012 and returned five years later with the coming-of-age drama "Dear Maya", Netflix's "Lust Stories" and "Sanju".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The comeback was not so easy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"At first it was difficult for me to take on the role of a character artist as I had been used to playing the heroine. Then I saw the blessing in this. Having plunged into the depths of my emotions, I could now express the intricate complexities, deeper nuances and profounder layers of each character."</p>.<p class="bodytext">In her words, she began her "second innings hesitatingly", with a Kannada film.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Manisha looks back at the period just after her foray into films in the early '90s with a "lot of regret and sadness".</p>.<p class="bodytext">When films happened suddenly, she was just 19-years-old and not ready to handle Mumbai.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Its unfamiliarity and expanse scared me. For a young, unexposed Nepalese girl, Bollywood was a terrifying experience. Unsure of how I should be behaving and interacting on the film set, I hid myself behind books. They protected me from my fear of interacting with everyone who seemed to be so sure of themselves," she says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She then decided to do something to overcome her shyness and feeling of awkwardness.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Alcohol came to my rescue. I loved the feeling of confidence it gave me, loosening me up, wiping out my inhibitions. Fortified by drinks, my shyness disappeared and I became quite at ease while socialising. Emboldened, I took to drinking more… and more,” she writes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Parties became a way of life for her. Either friends would party at her house or she would go over to theirs, Manisha says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In school, too she was a shy, introverted girl who found solace in books.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I think reading a lot of books does that to you. I was ahead of my classmates in some ways. While they were enjoying Mills & Boons, I was reading Ayn Rand."</p>
<p class="title">Actor Manisha Koirala, who won a tough battle against ovarian cancer, feels the disease came into her life as a gift as her vision is now sharper, mind clearer and her perspective realigned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As she completes six years of being cancer-free, she shares her story - one marked by apprehensions, disappointments and uncertainties - and the lessons she learnt along the way.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In her memoir "Healed: How Cancer Gave Me a New Life", she talks about her treatment in the US and the care provided by the oncologists there to how she rebuilt her life once she returned home.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Manisha says her book is a result of intense soul-searching and she has plunged deep into the dark, bottomless pit of painful memories and woven a story out of them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It has taken a lot of courage to confront and relive my experiences. But I needed to do so in order to become a true storyteller for the readers’ sake as well as my own," she says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Manisha says for a decade, she had abused her body.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The poor lifestyle I had been leading made my body susceptible to diseases. Had it not been cancer, some other malady would have struck me. In hindsight, on a dark, lonely night, I still wonder what it could have been and whether it would have been better or worse," the book, co-authored with Neelam Kumar and published by Penguin Random House, says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I think cancer came into my life as a gift. My vision is sharper, my mind clearer, my perspective realigned. I have succeeded in transforming my passive-aggressive anger and anxiety into more peaceful expressions," Manisha writes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She says post-recovery, she has succeeded in transforming her passive-aggressive anger and anxiety into more peaceful expressions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Born into the prominent Koirala family in Nepal, Manisha made her Bollywood debut with "Saudagar" in 1991 and went on to act in films like "1942: A Love Story", "Akele Hum Akele Tum", "Bombay", "Khamoshi: The Musical", "Dil Se", "Mann", "Lajja" and "Company".</p>.<p class="bodytext">She took a break from acting in 2012 and returned five years later with the coming-of-age drama "Dear Maya", Netflix's "Lust Stories" and "Sanju".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The comeback was not so easy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"At first it was difficult for me to take on the role of a character artist as I had been used to playing the heroine. Then I saw the blessing in this. Having plunged into the depths of my emotions, I could now express the intricate complexities, deeper nuances and profounder layers of each character."</p>.<p class="bodytext">In her words, she began her "second innings hesitatingly", with a Kannada film.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Manisha looks back at the period just after her foray into films in the early '90s with a "lot of regret and sadness".</p>.<p class="bodytext">When films happened suddenly, she was just 19-years-old and not ready to handle Mumbai.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Its unfamiliarity and expanse scared me. For a young, unexposed Nepalese girl, Bollywood was a terrifying experience. Unsure of how I should be behaving and interacting on the film set, I hid myself behind books. They protected me from my fear of interacting with everyone who seemed to be so sure of themselves," she says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She then decided to do something to overcome her shyness and feeling of awkwardness.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Alcohol came to my rescue. I loved the feeling of confidence it gave me, loosening me up, wiping out my inhibitions. Fortified by drinks, my shyness disappeared and I became quite at ease while socialising. Emboldened, I took to drinking more… and more,” she writes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Parties became a way of life for her. Either friends would party at her house or she would go over to theirs, Manisha says.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In school, too she was a shy, introverted girl who found solace in books.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I think reading a lot of books does that to you. I was ahead of my classmates in some ways. While they were enjoying Mills & Boons, I was reading Ayn Rand."</p>