Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur May 9 The saga of survival of a dancer-cum-drug addict is inspiring her heroin-hooked female colleagues to go in for a complete rehabilitation at de-addiction centres. The dozen odd dance troupes in this district have been pushed into a disintegration following Covid-19 induced restrictions on marriages birthdays and other social gatherings. As a result girls on the rolls of these troupes have been rendered idle. Sources said a majority of them have got hooked to liquor heroin and an assortment of opiates. And to finance this near fatal habit many have thrown their hat into scary prostitution ring. For several years Daljeet Kaur (28) (name changed) was a sensation among the citys dance groups reigned supreme on the circuit and commanded a lot of money. Came the pandemic and like others she too found herself pushed out of business. Her troupe comprising mostly of addicts wound up and she was left facing lifes many contradictions and challenges. At the best of times that is when business was booming she used to earn anything between Rs 10000 to Rs 15000 depending on the tips she used to receive. She however failed to balance her earnings with expenditure and found herself spending more than what she earned. With deficit fast running into thousands she decided to take control of her life. Daljeet walked into the Red Cross de-addiction centre run by Romesh Mahajan on the Gurdaspur-Kahnuwan road. “I was broke physically financially and emotionally. For me the past was imperfect the present tense while the future again looks imperfect. I was gazing at a black hole. Finally I mustered courage and promised myself come what may I will go in for rehabilitation to cleanse my body and soul. For a week I remained on medication. Days passed into weeks and weeks slipped into a month” said Daljeet. “Thirty-two days after I had knocked at the doors of the centre I was a completely cured and rejuvenated woman. Heroin is a strong drug thus early on I did feel withdrawal effects but with the help of the staff I managed to overcome the impediments. The past is behind me. I am a brand new woman now” she said and added that she entered the murky world of dancing weeks after she passed her Class XII. Daljeet has now tied the knot with a city-based financer. She was welcomed with open arms by her in-laws who told her that “they have no interest in her past and her future is what matters to them.” Every day she receives several calls from her erstwhile colleagues asking her to help them overcome the heroin tendency. “Some are based in the city while some have shifted to Jalandhar. They want to shrug off the habit but fearing repercussions from society they are reluctant to come to Gurdaspur. In any case I have managed to convince four of them to give it a try. They will be coming next week” she said. These days Daljeet teaches yoga to addicts at the de-addiction centre. “Yoga is not about the shape of your body but shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed it is to be lived. Yoga does not care of what you have been it cares about the person you are becoming. Its a light which once lit will never dim. The better you practice the brighter will be the flame” she quipped. “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now onwards and make a brand new ending. This is precisely the case with Daljeet” said Mahajan.

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