Young patient spurs AIDS battle

Poems written by a young Indian AIDS patient describing the shame and fear he felt after being diagnosed with the disease have been recorded by a top pop band to help tackle the prejudice sufferers face.

Poems written by a young Indian AIDS patient describing the shame and fear he felt after being diagnosed with the disease have been recorded by a top pop band to help tackle the prejudice sufferers face.

In his poems, 26-year-old Ricky Tombing, from the northeastern state of Manipur, gives an insight into the anguish he battles, fearing his friends and family would stop loving him.

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Case history Ricky Tombing, 26, from Manipur wrote poems expressing his anguish The poems have inspired a music album dedicated to AIDS/HIV sufferers Euphoria, the band involved, have named the album Dhoom’s Day. It has seven songs.

They have now become the inspiration for a leading music album dedicated to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. "While everyone is moving ahead, I'm fighting a war of mine. It's a war that will last forever. And you can never win," Tombing writes. A drug user, Tombing was infected with HIV after sharing the same needle with friends, his cousin Shelly Tombing said.

Now leading Indian group Euphoria — hugely popular among young Indians — have put his words to music, hoping to let other suffers know they are not alone.

"The album is a tribute to Ricky and those who are suffering," Palash Sen, the band's lead singer said. The Euphoria album is expected to have seven songs and is to be titled Dhoom's Day.

Sen said the name was chosen as it combines the Hindi dhoom meaning a good time with a pun on doomsday, the Christian Last Judgement.