‘An eulogy to the man I’ve never met #SPB’

SHATTERED! I feel suffocated underneath this weight of emptiness inside me….

There’s an invisible thread connecting my heart to SPB’s voice. The grief is so heavy right now that I cannot breathe without pain.

Just a couple of days ago, my Mom has brought to my attention that SPB was a distant cousin of ours. Yikes! And I was exhilarated to hear this, as I was unaware of this pleasant fact all these years. My bad!

I went down memory lane reminiscing my childhood days where I and my family used to watch every single episode of the 25-year-old popular show ‘Paaduta Theeyaga’. And both SPB and his programme have remained unmatched till date. SPB, the singer par excellence, had perpetually left me in awe with his deep sense of analysis on the subject, his respect and raging enthusiasm on art, and his basic understanding of aesthetics of film music.

With an ocean of SPB songs, it’s an uphill task for any of us to pick one favourite song. But songs from the 1980’s Sankarabharanam are a stand-out contribution from this legendary singer. As a child, I used to believe that these songs were actually sung by actor Somayajulu garu, and it took me a few years to get convinced that it was actually sung by SPB. He had soulfully rendered all the songs with so much majesty and moulded his voice to suit the actor.

Nevertheless, today has hit me harder than I expected. As soon as I heard this terrible news, I wished it to be just one troubling dream and not a reality. I can hear the thumping sound in me louder and closer. The ruckus inside me never left me for a long time, just like many of his fans.
We miss his magical and soul-melting voice, his power of mesmerizing the audience, his incredible versatility… Everything’s a gigantic loss.

You left the whole world in grief, #SPB. Not fair!

— Nirupama