It was his routine to check his Facebook account everyday at 4 am and a month ago, Inchakkad Balachandran was amazed to find 150 friend requests.
He logged off the system fearing a virus attack and came back after sometime only to find the number of requests rising to 250.
He checked them out of curiosity and found that the requests were from those who listened to a song he wrote more than two decades back. The song
“Ini Varunnoru Thalamurakk ivide vaasam sadhyamo” (Is a living possible for our next generation?) has gone viral and was catching up among Malayalis all over the globe. The song has received nearly 4 lakh views and 25,000 shares in Facebook, besides WhatsApp.
The lyrics, which until then was confined to activist groups in the state, got a new aura and depth when Resmi Satheesh sang it. The video clip of Resmi singing on the venue of the Nilppu Samaram (standing protest) organised by Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha at Fort Kochi, soon became the anthem of the protest. The video was posted by a friend, Bijith Chandran.
“I wrote it for Jala Jatha in 1992 while discussing the environmental issues faced by the Alappad area in Kollam. The song was ready on the first day of the boat journey from Azheekkal Pandarathurth. However, it got the feel that it has today during a camp organised by the Dynamic Action Group Thiruvalla in 1994,” says Balachandran, an environment activist with strong Communist roots, thanks to his native place Sooranad.
Meanwhile, Resmi, playback singer and an actor in 22 Female Kottayam, says she heard the song in 2003 from a boy, Chaathi, during her visit to ‘Kanav’, an alternative school/commune in Cheengode at Nadavayal village, as a MSW student. “The song followed me though I was not sure of the lyrics or the lyricist. However, I managed to get the lyrics from the cassette of Dyanamic Action. It was promoted by the late Sarath Chandran, noted documentary maker and activist. He took a video the ‘Twelfth hour song’ and screened it at many places,” says Resmi.
Balachandran says K J Baby, the mentor of Kanavu, was part of the camp which he attended. “He took it to schools and taught many children,” he adds.
A meeting of the singer and the lyricist was arranged by Bijith Chandran on Tuesday at Maneed near Kochi. The duo has got together for an album of seven songs, including “Ini varunnoru”.
Balachandran, who retired as a Taluk Officer with Economic and Statistics Department, had a tryst with the film world too. However, most music buffs are unaware that it was he who penned the lyrics of the super hit song ‘Azhkalila manja charadile... in Aswaroodan. “It was the late Raveendran master who initiated me to films and Jayaraj gave me a chance in his film. I wrote for another film ‘Sudharil Sudhan’. However, I left the scene as the film world did not recognise the lyrics in my name,” says Balachandran. Resmi also shares a sad note when she recently learnt that Chaathi the vital link that connected her to the song is no more.
Balachandran thinks there is something unique that contributes to the popularity of the song.
“It is neither my lyrics nor her voice. The song instils hope in the virtue of human beings and enliven the hope in people of a better tomorrow,” he states.