Source : Times of India
Dr Yusuf ‘Doc’ Merchant’s insightful book Happynesswas launched at a warm and gala event at Delhi’s popular cafe Social, Hauz Khaz, on May 17, 2018.
The 2nd floor of Social, named Anti-Social, hosted a large gathering of enthusiasts. In fact, it was a crowd too big for a book launch. Clearly, they had come to share their joy for their beloved ‘Doc’, at the launch of his new bookHappyness.
Dr Merchant is a renowned figure around the globe, known as a drug crusader, and the head of the most successful rehabilitation centre in Asia, Land, located in Mumbai. Most of the people present were his former patients or people who have known Doc over the years. But everyone has only one thing to say, that Doc is a miracle worker.
In a candid conversation with author Nilanjana Roy, Doc explained that happiness is a choice and is not an outcome, but a process. He said how people while in their chase to attain happiness often forget that the process itself can bring them a state of joy. He said, “I can choose to be happy even before I get a big car or a big house. I can be happy while I am earning the money to get the house.” Doc explained that one needs to adhere to three things in life to understand that happiness is not unattainable: a good value system, gratitude, and living in the present. If someone really wants to be happy, he has to go out of his mind, out of his conditioning set by social standards.”
The Vice-chancellor of DU and Padma Shri awardee Prof Dinesh Singh, former Hockey captain and Arjuna awardee Mr Jagbir Singh, author Arjun Nath, restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani, artist Kriti Monga, and Karthika VK, Publisher, Westland were present at the event among others.
The panelists mentioned how Doc had touched their lives in one way or another. Chief guest Dinesh Singh said that “Happiness can be found through the medium of you work which frees you and helps you meditate. Your work is your Dharma. Dharma is not religion, but that which binds you. It keeps you focused, and at peace.”
Karthika, Publisher, Westland, mentioned, “It’s rare to get a book like this, which is not just about learning to do your work differently or better, but also about trying to understand what Doc is saying to you as a person. There’s a certain compartmentalization that happens when you deal with ordinary subjects. But then there is Doc, who keeps pushing and saying ‘where’s the boundary?'”.
