Alappuzha: Abhijit Sai’s tabla is still creating ripples in the minds of his mother and family members. The legacy of the teenage prodigy, whose life was cut short by blood cancer in June 2007, is kept alive by his nephew, Suryanarayanan. An ever-rolling trophy for the winner of the tabla competition has been instituted in his memory by his father.

Sai had enthralled audience across the school arts festival venues in Kerala before his untimely death. The 13-year-old artiste played tabla like a maestro at the state school arts fest in Kannur despite running a punishing temperature. Not many in the audience knew that he was suffering from blood cancer.

When the judges granted him a ‘C’ grade, his well-wishers were shocked. They nudged him to go in appeal against the verdict but he said he just wanted to go to some place calm. 

He was taken to the Durbar Hall of the Arakkal Palace. He died on June 18. 

Jayaprakash and his wife Sahaja were shattered by the death of their son. The couple cherished his memories and the medals he earned.

Sai’s achievement did not come easy. He had been playing tabla since he was two years old under the tutelage of his father Jayaprakash. He became the youngest Malayali to earn a central government scholarship to train in tabla.

He trained under Gurukulam Ashokan since he was four years old. Later he went to Thiruvananthapuram to be a disciple of Keshkar Manohar. 

Jayaprakash died earlier this year at the age of 62. He used to visit the arts fest venues even after his son passed away and sponsored the trophy in his honour.  

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