Living His Dreams

A journey as a graffiti artist, KARTIKEY SHARMA has come a long way where none would dare. This brave and courageous 25-year-old battling cancer shares his heart-rending experiences, while holding exhibitions to raise funds for his treatment.

- Sunitta Raman

Fighting a debilitating disease like cancer is enough to turn a person’s life upside down. the treatment is not only expensive, but also saps the energy out of the sanest person. in India, for more than 70 per cent of people who fall below the poverty line, cancer treatment is almost unaffordable. apathy due to lack of funds is also a sad reality.

But to live life to its fullest, one can go to any end. Kartikey Sharma is one such young, incredibly brave artist, fighting cancer. The artist is organizing art exhibitions to gather funds for his treatment. One such exhibition was at Koregaon Park-based the Monalisa Kalagram, which not just hosted his show, but also waived off any percentage on sales for his recovery.

SIMPLE UPBRINGING

Today’s generation needs a lot of internal and external stimulation to keep busy. But Kartikey never needed fancy gadgets to enjoy his childhood. “as a child, I have always been a very curious and a creative little boy. I used to spend my free time climbing trees and falling off from the branches and then climbing once again. my father is a military man and my mother is a homemaker. I have a younger sister, Priya, who is almost my age. We have always been very close to each other. She was probably my first friend and also my last WWW (World Wide Wrestling) opponent. She has a few stitches on her face for which I am the culprit,” Sharma says laughingly.

THE TOUGH YEARS

Not many of us are blessed or have the privilege of a happy and a carefree childhood. Kartikey reveals, “Fights, shouting and yelling was a regular scene in my house. my childhood was really tough. We did not have any vacations, and did not join any extracurricular activities to enhance our learning or develop our personalities. maybe it was not the trend way back then, or my family did not give it much priority.” He is rather matter-of-fact in his revelations.