KOLLAM: In the face of adversity, dedication prevails. Meet Hridya Haseen, a resilient 17-year-old from the Government Model HSS, Calicut University campus, in Malappuram district. Despite sustaining burns to her legs and hip just a day before her Kathakali competition at the state arts festival, Hridya displayed unwavering determination and delivered a mesmerising performance at the Government Girls HSS in Kollam.
With each participant allowed 15 minutes, Hridya chose the theme ‘Ravana Ulbhavam’ (the origin of Ravana) for her presentation. She had arrived in the city on January 4 along with her father Rashid K H and trainer Arvind Kalamandalam. As she had fever, she was using a hot water bag for relief.
Unfortunately, the bag leaked and hot water fell on her legs. Though she was taken to the ESI Hospital in Kollam, she had to be discharged so she could participate in the competition. “This is my last state festival. I have been preparing for this day from last year. If I lose these days, they will never come back,” Hridya said.
On the first day, medicines reduced the pain to some extent. “But on the competition day, I cannot take any medicine or painkiller because it will hurt my stomach. So, I completely avoided any kind of medicine during the competition,” she said.
Hridya has been learning and performing classical music since her childhood. In the previous state festival held in Kozhikode, she had received an ‘A’ grade in Kathakali. This time too, overcoming all hardship, she earned an ‘A’ for her performance.
“The long hours of practice really helped me build the confidence to compete with the injury. I was in pain while performing but the training had taught me to focus on the goal, and that’s how I was able to overcome this challenge,” Hridya said.