‘I’M POSSIBLE’ authored by Dr K Hari Prasad, President, Apollo Group-Hospitals, released by a galaxy of celebs!
Hyderabad, January 25th, 2020 : ‘I’M POSSIBLE’ – the story of a lad, who shone as bright as a star… Yet fate showed him down the narrowest lanes of life… And… Yet, he came out… UNSCATHED, authored by Dr K Hari Prasad, President, Apollo Group-Hospitals; was released by Dr Prathap C. Reddy, Chaiman, Apollo Hospitals Group and Shri Md. Mahmood Ali, Dy. Chief Minister, Telangana; today, at Taj Deccan. Also present were Dr KVR Prasad, author’s father; Former Chief Minister of combined Andhra Pradesh, Shri Kiran Kumar Reddy; Mr Mahendar Reddy, IPS, DGP, Telangana; Mr Gautam Sawang, IPS, DGP, AP; Mr CV Anand, IG, CISF; Dr Sangita Reddy, Jt. Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group; Former India captain & President, HCA, Mr Md. Azharuddin; World Badminton Champion PV Sindhu; Mr Ramachandru T., Special Representative, Telangana Govt.; Mr Sudheer Babu, IPS, ACP, Rachakonda; Actress Sanjana and Ananya Sharma, Publisher of the book from Kitabaan publishing house, amongst others.
Dr Hari Prasad is a popular figure in the city, not just because he helms one of the largest healthcare organizations of the country, but also because he is an extremely popular erstwhile cricketing star. He made his debut with Mohammed Azharuddin, and played alongside stalwarts including M. V. Narsimha Rao and Saad bin Jung.
I’M Possible captures the unbelievable life story of Dr Hari Prasad, who has seen it all—from being an average performer in school to becoming a cricketing star; from fighting a legal battle to get into a medical college to giving up cricket overnight; from falling in love to tying the knot at a barely-marriageable age; from excelling as a doctor to giving up practising completely; from being a fit sportsman to falling prey to tobacco addiction…and eventually combating cancer…taking up a nearly impossible health challenge and emerging as an inspiration to many…
Speaking on the occasion PV Sindhu said, Dr Hari Prasad life is all about expecting the unexpected, no matter how difficult or complicated situation he faces, he dealt with it in the most poised and resilient way. He is passionate about everything he takes on, be it cricket, education, work, family. His dedication and commitment is supreme. He is for living life to the fullest and pursue to learn new things. He was the most promising cricketer of his time and played it at various levels, alongside cricketing greats like Md. Azharuddin, Arshad Ayub, Narsimha Rao. Overnight he gave up cricket, when he was at the peak, to pursue his education. Again specialising and practicing as an anaesthetist, he stopped that practice suddenly. At one point, his journey almost ended with a major health shock. All his life when things seem to be settled, the earth beneath seem to cave in. Change has been the only constant in his journey. The grace and poise with which he handled all these challenges has a lesson for everyone, irrespective of age and profession.
Dr Prathap C. Reddy said, everybody I met here has a good word for Hari, I met him 23 years ago, he is instrumental in creating an emergency system like nowhere in the world. He created a model emergency care for the Indian Healthcare. But what really impressed me was his ability to bring a change and make this huge difference for healthcare in our country. He has many more thing to do, to transform a good institution into a great institution.
Shri Md. Mahmood Ali said, Dr Hari Prasad faced several challenges to reach the stature he has attained. The biggest of the challenges his way was cancer, but he did not give up, he fought the cancer and made it known to the world that cancer is curable. He also reduced his weight from 120 kgs to 70 kgs with his signature determination and proved its possible through lifestyle changes.
Shri Kiran Kumar Reddy said, Hari is an old friend and a much junior to me. There are two things in common to us, one is HPS and the other is, I left cricket to pursue a career in politics and I was very happy that he succeeded me and became a wicket keeper for the state, but unfortunately he too left it for his career.
Mr Md. Azharuddin said, I have known him from the days we played under 22 cricket tournaments together for the state. Since he became a doctor, I have stopped calling him Hari and address him only as Doc. He was a very talented cricketer and a talented wicket keeper, though he was quite stocky. He never let any byes, whenever there was scope for byes his body would cover. We made our debut together at Kothagudam and we managed to be in the 4 games, at that time Ranji season had only four games. It’s not we, but you are the true hero, you have come out of tough times, worked very hard, you had determination to fight and come out of any situation. I have the highest respect for you as a human being.
Mr Mahendar Reddy said, for any health problem the policemen face, he is always there to come to our rescue. The relationship of the police with him is more than two decades, when the city was expanding and the need for emergency care was felt, it was Hari who trained the policemen in first aid care and laid the foundation for it.
Mr Gautam Sawang said, for over two and half decades I have known Hari, he was the go to man, every time somebody fell ill in the family, friends or in the police department, it was he who would give the strength to us.
Dr Sangita Reddy said, Hari spent the last 23 years at Apollo making my life easy. His is a tremendous example of a life well run, well used, above all the impact he made. If there is one person who can match the pace of Chairman Dr Prathap C. Reddy’s vision and give the commitment to keep on doing things for humanity and society, that person is Hari, who has translated so much of our vision into reality. In every situation, he has a sense of calm, a sense of yes we can and above all he is grounded in the human values. An individual is defined by the way they face the problems, professional problems are one thing but personal and physical, especially being faced with cancer is something different and god gave you that special hand and guidance to cure you, because there is a lot more to be done. I congratulate you for the way you faced it, I never saw even for a fraction of a second, a sense of fear or hopelessness in that state.
Mr CV Anand said, I am connected to him through cricket and HPS, he is four years senior to me in the school and as an aspiring cricketer always took him as a role model. In his 11th standard he took the state and the zone by storm, he was one of the most hard hitting batsman you could ever-ever see, I have seen him play, so did Azzu bhai. If there was a T20 league or one dayer cricket in those days, he wouldn’t have become a doctor. He made his Ranji Trophy debut in his 12th standard, which is quite a record and one year later we were shocked to learn that he left cricket. He was such a talented cricketer and were shocked as to why he took such a decision. His life has been of service, he was ever ready to help our constables and staff and train them in emergency services. When I was in traffic police, he was caring to the constables whose lungs were affected being exposed to pollution.
Dr K Hari Prasad said, like everyone I too had my peaks and valleys, as the saying goes, one learns from mistakes I too learned many lessons from mistakes, this book is a compilation of all the mistakes I made and the lessons I learnt. There are many twists and turns in my life, I have been honest and captured my journey factually. It is more aimed at helping readers to avoid what is avoidable. It’s a celebration of all those who impacted my life and what I am today is because of them. I have started a charitable institution for helping the needy in education, health and sports and all the proceeds of this book will go towards these causes.
Actress Sanjana said, inspiring books are the need of the hour, let’s face it, we are in a world full of challenges and all we need is inspiring people, positive people. Here he is not limiting himself to success stories, but about his failures too in the most transparent way and that takes lots of guts.
The Delhi-based publisher Ananya Sharma said that the book has become a sensation even before being launched and has gone into a third reprint on the day of the launch. The book is available on Amazon and would be made available in stores starting 25 January.
Talking about the challenges associated with the book, Ananya said, ‘Anyone who knows Dr Hari would know that he is a private person and a man of very few words. Thus, developing the story was a major challenge. His responses were mostly syllabic! Our team kept interacting with him, determined to tell this larger-than-life story in the simplest of words that vividly bring out the emotional side of an otherwise stern and reserved individual—one who underplays his achievements and often does revolutionary things from behind the curtain. And I daresay the product is a masterpiece! I have done books all my life but this one altered my DNA. The leaves of I’M Possible hold magic between them! It would leave the readers intrigued, enchanted and motivated. This book could be the sacred text for all those who have bullish ambitions and want to achieve something extraordinary in life.’
