At school, Balabhaskar played first an Ilaiyaraaja piece

As Keralites are mourning the untimely demise of noted violinist Balabhaskar, a picture of him in school uniform performing in a band is becoming viral on the social media. The musical genius had given up composing music for films saying that he found happiness only when he played violin. Balabhaskar had often said that it was during his school days that he enjoyed performing music the most.

“I was very active in arts during my school days. My home work in composition and fusion music began at school. It was from there that I even got the confidence to start a band. I used to participate in the youth festivals. I even had a band at school. I would compose a tune and then trained others. We had mostly performed film songs. Even then I didn’t sing much. I was the centre of attraction at school, and I must say that I had enjoyed it very much,” Balabhaskar had said once.

He had also said in an interview that the Tamil song ‘Kanne kalimane’ composed by the legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja was the first film song that he played on the violin at his school assembly hall. The evergreen song was in fact one of his most favourite songs which he often played during stage shows and programmes. The artiste, who was very active until the accident took place, had been extremely passionate about his art.

Balabhaskar had suffered multiple serious injuries in a car accident which killed his two-year-old daughter Tejaswini. There were reports that the musician’s condition was slightly stabilizing, and his friends and family were hopeful about his comeback. However at around 1 am on Tuesday he suffered a cardiac arrest and bid adieu to the world. After the post mortem in medical college, Balabhaskar’s dead body was taken to Thiruvananthapuram for his fans to pay their last respects. Many of his friends who reached the hospital knowing about the tragic news couldn’t hold back their tears.

The musician was severely injured after their car rammed a tree at Pallipuaram in the wee hours of September 25. His daughter Tejaswini was declared dead at the hospital. Balabhaskar’s wife Lakshmi and driver Arjun are recovering at the hospital.