A few days ago, the tiatr stage lost a stalwart Joaquim J Fernandes alias Jaju, due to heart attack hours after he reached home after performing in a tiatr at Arambol. Last monsoon another stalwart Mario Menezes died due to massive heart attack, while travelling to Mumbai by train for a tiatr performance. Fr Nevel Gracias had a heart attack a little earlier. Many get a heart attack; while few survive, the others sadly succumb. A basic question arises in the mind: Is the tiatrist lifestyle conducive to a heart attack?
A heart attack, medically known as myocardial infarction occurs when the flow of blood to the heart is severely reduced or blocked. The blockage is usually due to a buildup of fat, cholesterol and other substances in the heart (coronary) arteries.
Let us peruse through the lifestyle patterns of tiatrists that could lead to a heart attack.
QUALITY SLEEPING
Sleep is essential for every individual. Take the case of a tiatrist. A show is scheduled to start at 7.30 pm in north Goa. He leaves at 5 pm to be on time. The show ultimately commences at 8 pm and gets over after midnight due to some songs going encore and also the housie/ felicitations/ prize giving ceremonies during the interval. The actor reaches home around 2 am and has to get up early so that he reaches work on time the next day in order to compensate for leaving early the previous day. The dark circles gathering below the eyes of the artiste is a clear indication of the quality of sleep received!
HEALTHY EATING
A few tiatrists carry their own food packets and warm water from home but a majority of artistes rely on what is served free at the venue of performance. Upon reaching the venue, the tiatrists are out to find some refreshment outlets which more often leads them to some fast food carts or junk eateries. If the organisers serve food (50% chances they won’t) dinner time usually breaks after the conclusion of show sometime between 11.30 pm and 12 am. If not, the actor will have to satisfy his hunger eating a ‘cutlet or chouris pao’ available in the canteen put up at the performance venue or eat after reaching home sometime between 1 and 2 am.
EXERCISING
The concept of staying fit is yet to reach our tiatrists to whom time management is a big issue. Lack of leisure time or rather lack of ability to make time for physical body exercising contributes to body ailments. Not getting enough physical activity can lead to heart disease; even for people who have no other risk factors. It can also increase the likelihood of developing other heart disease risk factors, including obesity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. There are very few gym going tiatrists, but all the more there are tiatrists who talk about tiatrists hitting out at the gym for a show off. With unsupportive, low mentality and negative energy group mates in the troupe, the exercising and gym going tiatrist is often discouraged. Seeing a tiatrist hitting out at the gym, some colleagues join too, but having no steel in their resolve, back out within a week or two. Some lady tiatrists have a stunning reply to exercising: I am working the whole day at home and office, isn’t this an exercise?
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Chronic worry and stress can negatively affect virtually every organ system in the body and has been shown to cause numerous health problems. Everyone goes through stressful periods and living too long under stress without proper rest, will provoke the body to protest in its own way.
Not everyone is equally sensitive to stress; not the ambitious tiatrist atleast! When the actor wants to do things right and pays little or no attention to the things that are already going well, he is more likely to become stressed.
Complaints such as headache, muscle pain and sleeping problems arise. The work takes more effort and often becomes difficult to concentrate. Sometimes life just doesn’t seem to be so nice and the prospect of improvement seems far away.
Doing more than one can actually handle will eventually make the actors performance less effective. People, who work many hours under pressure, end up getting less work done per hour which ultimately, leads to feelings of depression and anxiety. Pressures of meeting deadlines at work sometimes with jealous peers await an opportunity to let the achieving tiatrist down. Home pressure with family members doubting the friendship of two artistes performing together for long contributes to stress building. Issues arising in the troupe with negative energy possessors back biting and carrying unjust tales to the directors to put the achieving tiatrist down exist in every group. Jealous co-artistes spreading untrue canards that unfortunately reach the ears of the tiatrist, contribute further to stress building in the tiatrist.
NEGATIVITY & JEALOUSY
Negative emotions can wear an actor out, causing loss of focus on goals. Also negative thinking about the situation arising in the troupe or in the lives of the tiatrist and his career raises the amount of stress. Expressions like ‘Vhoddlem kaim na, gheun bospachem na’ are commonly heard. When a colleague receives a cash prize, is felicitated or receives a special perk, some tiatrists cannot even say ‘Congratulations’ and if said, most of the times they don’t mean it! Feeling of resentment at the fortune of another tiatrist has been going on unabated, which contributes to the negative energy. ‘Tiatristak tiatristachi nosai’ is well understood in a troupe. In small doses, these emotions of jealousy can be motivating to do better but more often it ends up with a display of ungentlemanly behaviour.
ALCOHOL & TOBACCO
‘Battli Soreachi, Tikett Mornachi’ was a tiatr recently staged. Even though a tiatrist sings and stages tiatrs highlighting the ill-effects of alcohol and tobacco, the menace of alcohol consumption prevails in almost every troupe. Tobacco consumption is relatively less but nonetheless it exists. In one particular troupe a director would hand over to an artiste a bottle of alcohol even before the tiatr would begin so that the said artiste does not go out looking for booze and keep the director waiting to start the show on time. Some tiatrists won’t go on stage without a small ‘kutt’ of a drink. Some start their ‘mixing’ of peg in water bottles, soon after the organisers supply drinking water bottles to the artistes, while to some the ‘jingaboling’ (a term that only tiatrist will understand) starts during the interval.
There is a very clear link between excessive alcohol consumption and having high blood pressure. Over time, high blood pressure (hypertension) puts strain on the heart muscle and can lead to cardiovascular disease, which in turn increases the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke.
A tiatrist can reduce the risk of getting a heart attack by lowering the blood pressure and cholesterol levels by eating a healthy and balanced diet, by being physically more active and exercising, by keeping to a healthy weight regime, by giving up on smoking, by reducing or giving up on alcohol consumption.
A heart attack can be life threatening and needs immediate medical attention. Key warnings include pain and tightness in the chest, pain in other parts of the body, and difficulty in breathing. Ignoring such signs or ignorance to recognise these signs have proved very costly to many.
The authorities at the helm of cultural affairs like Department of Art and Culture, Tiatr Academy of Goa, Goa Konkani Academy or Dalgado Konknni Akademi should take the lead in educating the tiatrists on these issues and prevent deaths due to heart attack.
