I heard about him in 1983 when we came to Hyderabad from Shillong and sometime in 1985, he played at Keyes High School and I got to hear him live. His was the first live concert that I had ever been to. There was something different about him, a softness, a gentleness and a genuine goodness that seemed to flow in his music.
I never knew then that the genius would die so young :(… We are both born the same year a few months apart. Then a few years back, his brother performed at Epicentre and I remembered the Keyes high school performance. Today U. Srinivas passed away and the Mandolin seems reduced by a string. I never kept track of his musical career but listened to many of his albums, just heard snippets when he was awarded the Padma Shri and life moved on. I saw him on the television some years back and thought he was deeply troubled because he somehow looked much older than his age.
Today when Krishnan told me about this news and then we read about his troubled personal life, it just feels terribly sad that my assessment was right. A child prodigy to die unhappily feels like a life wasted. Some marriages bring hell, and just that seems to have happened with his marriage. I don’t know anything to place blame, but U.Srinivas certainly paid a heavy price in that relationship. They say marriages are made in heaven, I don’t agree because they are so imperfect that God could have nothing to do with them. Actually marriages should make life heavenly, but many times make it hell. Some men become philosophers like Socrates told his student, and some others just get burdened.
RIP Srinivas… Thanks for the great music and may you find heaven on the other side of life.
RIP also a dear friend’s father who passed away today … Too soon. Death isn’t final, but you miss a parent so much. I was remembering the day dad passed away. I didn’t cry then but just missed him so terribly. He seems around but sometimes I just want to pick up the phone and hear his voice or just want to see the pride in his eyes as I get an award… That’s irreplaceable. He would have been so sad to see U. Srinivas go … He loved Carnatic music. But to my dear friend, all I want to say is, parents never really leave their children. You will miss your father, but his presence will also be felt everyday, because he would be around with you.
RIP ..
on hearing the news one felt sad and fell silent, reminiscing.thanks for sharing your thoughts. i thought t,m, krishna in indian express,today, wrote a warm piece-with a perceptive remark that u.s, managed to retrieve, for instrumentalists, some of the ground lost, at a particular time,to vocalists.
Nice read and thanks for sharing. Still finding it difficult to get over his loss.
Pls do read my obit piece on Shrinivas. Views and feedback welcome.
http://wp.me/p1dZc2-ms