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Echoes of SPB
How do you even begin grieving for the loss of someone like SP Balasubrahmanyam?
What is even grief when we lose someone like SPB, whose voice singularly defined so many collective memories of our childhood?
SPB’s voice stood by us through thick and thin, regaled us and consoled us through many phases of our lives, passed no judgement when we made mistakes, celebrated us when we crossed minor milestones. And it will continue to do all of the above for the rest of our lives.
Is that why to know that he won’t be with us physically is the sort of news that cuts so deep?
We are not mourning because we won’t have access to SPB anymore. We are not mourning because he won’t get to create new musical memories for us anymore. We are not mourning because we wanted him to stay alive forever to entertain us and benefit us. I definitely don’t think we are mourning because we are worrried that we will lose everything he had created for us.
But when an artiste, a legend like SPB dies, it pokes a hole in that non-transactional affection and love that we have had for him to stay alive and be happy forever.
This loss in particular is going to be hard to process for his presence has seeped into everything we do and everywhere we go to (the man…