"I want to die at a hundred years old with an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet, after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at 75 miles per hour. I want to cross one last finish line as my stud wife and my ten children applaud, and then I want to lie down in a field of those famous French sunflowers and gracefully expire expire, the perfect contradiction to my once-anticipated poignant early demise."

- Lance Armstrong, Its Not About The Bike

I had been toying with the idea of putting something of this sort up, but couldn't find sentences, which would capture the meaning as good as this one does. Lance Armstrong. The name was and will be synonymous to an epic fight with cancer, a surreal resurgence into life and success, a story which will be told for many years to come but will never be able to relate the true spirit that has made it.

I really only knew Lance Armstrong as a cancer survivor who won the Tour de France 7 times. I actually supported him in the last one, after which he retired. And I didn't even know what kind of cancer he won the fight against. It was stuff of legends, his story of rising up from the ruins, perhaps that is why it was never told in full detail. I didn't even know biographies of this sort existed. Of course, that was before my best friend suggested I should read the book, AND my eyes fell on it in a bookstore. It's important the word AND because I'd never have taken the trouble to look for it, as much of a book-lover I am. Its Not About The Bike changed my life.

This might sound cliche. But life just hasn't been the same since then. I actually managed to see what Lance Armstrong was really like. And the truth is, he was a normal American guy! Legends tell us about the brave way in which he fought the cancer. What they don't tell us is that in that fight, there were humane times too. He just didn't stand up and say," I'm gonna fight this" and go ahead. There were periods when he suffered and suffered badly. There were times when he felt he was losing it all and then times when he got the boost to live on through it.

He talks about his meetings with cancer patients and the way it really inspired him to fight. The book inspires us to fight on. Imagine yourself in a position when you have the knowledge that you have a fatal disease. A disease which can kill you today, may be tomorrow, a position where you've got a chance, but just A chance. Everything else seems trivial. Living looks like the gift you never ever want taken from you. Thats exactly what reading this book has done to me. It really put htings into perspective. Living is what is important, because as precious as it is, it is easily lost. And the losing is not always without pain.

Lance sort of brought a humanness into my life. Every day in the morning, I look forward to living ( except on days when exams have a priority!). And every night, I thank God for a wonderful living. At least I had a day and I know there's gonna be another one. Lance Armstrong's story is not one of legends. It needs to be treated like a normal one to give it justice. Its a story that every single person can learn from. Its a story of determination, perseverance, and the will to live. Its a story of all those times when you think you've lost all that and people in your life bring it back to you. The fight against cancer just wasn't his fight. It was the fight of almost 50 other people who were with him throughout.

I always read this book when I need the motivation to do something. The human element that Lance Armstrong has brought to it, gives me the push to go on. I do believe that this book was the very thing which was responsible for the motivation I got to get into Medicine. I don't mean to develop the need to become a doctor. I mean to study and crack an entrance considered one of the toughest there is.

And Lance Armstrong became a human being, a normal one, just like me. He wasn't one of those ultimately great people you can never even hope to idolise. I found an amazing motivational factor and a great idol. And the lines I've got there on top just capture the entire spirit of Idol.....