Poonam Sinha was the Guest Of Honour

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and like every year, The Taj Mahal Palace hosted a grand evening with snazzy cocktails and delish canapés in support of the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.

The event which was jointly hosted by Women’s Cancer Initiative – Tata Memorial Hospital, The Estée Lauder Companies in association with ELLE magazine was a huge success.

Estée Lauder Companies launched a Global Landmarks Illumination Initiative in the year 2000 and since then, hundreds of the world’s most splendid and well-known landmarks have been illuminated with pink lights every October to raise awareness and inspire action.

This year, too, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, was illuminated as part of this global initiative. Poonam Sinha was the Guest of Honour and she addressed the august gathering about her younger sister’s battle against the Big C and how she had pledged to dedicate her life to spread awareness about the disease. She also released hundreds of Pink Ribbon balloons into the sky as a symbolic gesture.

There were several distinguished guests that pledged generous amounts in support of the campaign against Breast Cancer which women can fight with early detection.

Reena & Ashok Wadhwa

Taj Mahal Palace has always topped my list of magnificent historical monuments in Mumbai and it looked breathtaking when it was illuminated in pink. It was also great to hear that The Taj will be illuminated all of this week in support of this wonderful cause.

Devieka Bhojwani played the gracious host (she’s a breast cancer survivor herself) as she warmly greeted everyone, made sure they had a blast and even shared with me her own courageous battle against Breast Cancer.

I particularly enjoyed my conversation with the lovely Nisha JamVwal who expressed concern about the great disparity that exists in the treatment of fatal diseases in our country. She feels that even the underprivileged should have better medical facilities and easier access to treatment for such maladies.

I had the most amazing conversation with Lisa Haydon and she shared with us how someone really close to her was battling against Cancer. So, she was very passionate about the cause. She told me that she hearts MissMalini *aaww* We love her too! I had a rather interesting conversation with Poonam Sinha who shared her experiences of spreading Breast Cancer Awareness in remote parts of Bihar when her husband Shatrughan Sinha was the Health Minister.

Breast Cancer is a life threatening disease which has become awfully rampant especially in metros in India. So, it is important for women especially over the age of 40 to ensure they do a self examination every month and also speak to their friends and family about it without hesitation.

The Pink Tower at Taj represented The Pink Ribbon which is the universal symbol of breast health and our strong resolve to fight against the disease. So wear a Pink Ribbon this October, wear Pink to work (like we did) and don’t forget to spread the word!

Spotted: Gauri Poohumal, Divya Palat & Aditya Hitkari, Monica Vaziralli, Sabira Merchant, Mallavika Sanghvi and Poorna Jaganathan.

Mallavika Sanghvi

Cutting the Pink Ribbon

Wear The Pink Ribbon To Support Breast Cancer Awareness!