How important is the eldest son to a family? A lot in many ways, especially when the family loses its head early on. At a young age, he is left to face the challenges of life and support the family morally and financially. My eldest brother, who recently passed away at the age of 67, was a perfect example of this breed, and his demise has left us crestfallen. To add to the melancholy, he lost his only son in a road accident in 1999 when the boy was doing his final year graduation.
When our father left us in 1971 out of the blue, the entire responsibility of fostering the family fell on the young shoulders of my eldest brother who was just 20 then. He was forced to give up his studies and take up a job to support the whole family. He embraced it and took it as a challenge to raise the family, and did so admirably well.
A multitalented person that my brother was, he was interested in varied fields like music, sports, literature, etc. However, he had a special bond with Carnatic music. His deep knowledge helped him identify ragas of any kriti in a jiffy, even at the age of four! When he was with mother in a concert at a music sabha in Chennai, two ladies in the back row had a row over the raga of a particular kriti. To their surprise, the child turned to them and mentioned the raga’s name.
And when the concert was over, the ladies got it confirmed with his uncle, a disciple of the legendary vocalist G N Balasubramanian. Naturally so, my brother’s maiden short story in Tamil, extolling the pride and beauty of Carnatic music was published as a cover story in the prestigious Ananda Vikatan some three decades ago, and won accolades. Later the story was dramatised and received rave reviews in the media.
As a member of the Nostalgic Tamil Songs Singing Group that dishes out yesteryear ditties from Tamil films every month, my brother, just before his demise, gave a poetic welcome address to the legendary playback singer P Suseela, who was the chief guest for the programme. His address was well appreciated by her and the members of the group.
This write-up is neither a tribute nor an eulogy to my deceased brother, but an expression of my deepest feelings of sincere thanks to a person who epitomised in no small measure the value of being the eldest son in a family in the absence of the father, and lived by example until he breathed his last. And today, if all his younger siblings are well settled in their lives, my eldest brother was solely responsible for it.