May 8 is World Thalassemia Day. While most of the children between the age of six to ten years are busy playing and enjoying their childhood to the fullest; Amit Shankar (name changed) is lying on a hospital bed for blood transfusion -- because he is suffering from thalassemia. A common routine for the six-year-old he has to undergo blood transfusion every three to eight weeks to maintain his haemoglobin level. Shankar lives to tell the tale of agony and despair that close to one lakh thalassemia patients in India suffer and around 10000 children are born with the disease.