Her jewels are longing for her, the ghungroo haven’t been touched for months and her research awaits her while Purabi Baruah is battling in a hospital in Guwahati. This Odissi and Satriya dancer fell prey to doctor’s negligence and what was supposed to be a minor cyst removal surgery landed her in the ICU with ventilation for days, until doctors gave up and was later shifted to another hospital by the family.
The dancer and research scholar’s battle for life began from here though the path to recovery seemed far from reality. Married to Harekrishna Takukdar, a visual artist by profession, Purabi Baruah is a renowned Odissi and Satriya dancer who made Assam and India proud by representing the country on different national and international platforms. “Purabi has a zest for life, she is passionate about dance and doing her Ph.D on Deodhani folk dance of Assam. She is the first Assamese woman to receive the Dora Research Fellowship to conduct research as a visiting Ph.D scholar at the University of Tartu, Estonia in 2012,” says her Harekrishna.
Harekrishna gives a detailed account of her wrong medical treatment: “She was operated for an ovarian cyst surgery in Hayat Hospital. Within two days she was able to sit up and eat. But on the night of the second day, she began to complain of pain. Doctors treated her for gas but they couldn’t decide and finally she was operated again to see what was wrong.”
By this time Purabi developed septicaemia (blood poisoning) as her bowel got injured during this surgery. But they failed to block the leakage. During this whole process the dancer’s condition deteriorated and she developed multiple organ infection, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and Pneumothorax and also had a major cardiac arrest.
Purabi’s story is known to those who are following a campaign to raise funds for her treatment by Milaap, a crowd funding agency. Nabanita Borah, a friend of Purabi, started the campaign on Milaap.org on August 31. Post the initial checks and verification executed by the Milaap team, Nabanita raised nearly Rs 9,00,000 through her network. Milaap is now widening the reach by tapping its community of donors from 130 countries to support Purabi raise the remaining amount and meet huge hospital bills.
