New Delhi: International Dance Day will be celebrated tomorrow (April 29). It marks the birth anniversary of Jean-Georges Noverre, the creator of modern ballet.
Once Martha Graham said, “Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great just because of their passion.” And the perfect example of this quote is Atasi Misra, a classical dancer who is battling Covid and that too, alone.
Atasi, a classical dancer, who lives alone in Paschim Vihar, Delhi, was infected from Corona in the past few days. It is very difficult for her to survive because there is no one to help her. Her family lives in Odisha and in this situation, her parents are not able to come to take care of her.
Atasi said, “It's a rebirth of mine. Thirteen days of severe fever and I stayed alone, there was no one for help. I couldn't get up. I also once fell in my bathroom and injured myself. I have been calling for an RT-PCR test from my nearest diagnostic test centre at my home because I am not able to walk in the room.”
I have been calling for four days but no one came. On the fourth day, when I started shivering, one of the members understood that the situation was very critical, so he sent a boy for the test.” she added.
Atasi said, “According to the clinic, most of the members were infected and they have only 50 per cent staff so they are not sending anyone home. They were saying you come over here. Even the person who was talking to me was also in the hospital and handling the things.”
“Nobody took care of me. I took care of myself by having Maggi and Knorr soups and all these kinds of stuff. But now I am okay, one of my friends was also here for some time. Near my house, there is a Homeopathy clinic. Last year, one of my friends fell sick and I gave him the medicine from that clinic and he was alright again. So I called at that clinic and they were so nice to send me all the medicines on call. Along with the medicines, they gave me allopathic advice also about what to have or what not to have,” she added.
Atasi shared that one of her friends’ mother brought all the groceries and fruits for her.
“As I used to do Yoga regularly, my oxygen level was not down. It was always 98 or 99 even in serious condition,” she said.
She continued, “Please try to remain as positive as possible and get rid of all negative energy around you. As a dancer, it was very difficult for me to stay in bed and whenever I felt well, I played songs and tried to dance because it made my soul happy and now that I am good, I am very happy to wear ‘Ghungroo’ again.”
“Every time, it's not compulsory that we will do well only from medicine but if we have will power we can definitely fight. Artists have the gift of spirituality because they are emotionally strong. They can pass on their emotions through their art. That also helps in restoring the mental peace to get through this all because in this tough time we do not have any support from the government.” Atasi concluded.
