‘Met him last week, never thought it was final goodbye’

I first met him in 1983, when he agreed to sing at the wedding of my son ‘Nalli’ Viswanath. I did not know what to gift him, so, I had got a special jarigai veshti woven exclusively for him, with a 6 inch border. At that time, we were making only 21/2 inch jarigais. Balamurali was such a wonderful person, that he wore the special veshti for my son’s wedding kutcheri. From that day, he bcame like a father to my family. He took to wearing it to so many events that other musicians took note. Veenai S Balachander in fact called me and jokingly asked why other musicians were unable to wear a similar veshti. 

Balamurali told me two extraordinary things. First, he never did ‘sadagam’ (practice music). Secondly, he told me he never planned the songs before a kutcheri. He told me he sang from the heart, and once he sat on the stage and the instruments aligned the notes, he simply let the notes flow out of him. He also had a photographic memory and count recall a Semmangudi kutcheri of the 1930s.

He was always punctual , often he arrived early. He was truly a genius. He knew not everyone would understand the intricacies of Carnatic music, and had this immense capacity to keep up a conversation on general issues, without making the other person feel small. I last met him a few days ago at an event at the Russian Cultural Centre. It shook me to see him seated in a wheel chair. After handing over the mementoes, he turned to me and quietly said,” I want to leave now.” I wheeled him out to his car and waved him off. I did not know this would be my final goodbye to him.