Y.Sunita Chowdhary
Narasimha is from Alluru in Nellore and is born to Chinnaya and Padmavathi. His father, a rickshaw puller, gave all he had to encourage his son’s singing talent. A few years back he had passed away. The teachers spotted his talent in school and encouraged him; It all began by singing prayers in the assembly. In High School, he participated in the singing competitions that were held at the Mandal and district levels. His father began taking loans and repaying them and survival became tough. His health deteriorated as he worked for the family and never spoke about his pain. The son noticed it, he recollects, “I decided to fail in the tenth standard because I couldn’t bear him taking loans for my studies. The doctors advised him strictly not to ride the rickshaw because he had a hernia issue but he didn’t listen. Also, we couldn’t afford a surgery. He did see my Padutha Teeyaga programme and died four months later. He was happy while passing away, he left with the satisfaction that I was on track.”
He recollects a few incidents, “The teachers too took half the fee and sometimes offered free education but my father paid whatever he could. The teachers noticed I wasn’t focussing on studies and was putting in more effort on singing. I was getting prizes, standing first in competitions and was being paid little money. Till then I didn’t know that one gets paid for singing. I wanted to go to the music college and decided to stop studying. As decided I failed in tenth and cleared the subject later. MAA TV conducted Ramadasu Sangeeta Utsavalau and the selections were going on at Ammavari temple. My father gave up, he said he can’t buy a CD but the CD store guy gave it to us free of cost because I sing well. I reached the finals. My father realised I could make a career out of singing and never forced me to study. I approached big wigs for financial help to study in the music college but never got it.”
When Narasimha was born, he had health issues and would often fall sick. A few weeks after he was born, his health turned critical and people declared him dead. They even got ready to cremate him when a woman saw a movement in his body and they did all their best to revive him. It is a matter of luck that whenever the young singer fell into a problem, help would come from unexpected quarters. He shares, “Singer Shobha Raju helped me with three thousand rupees and I used it to apply for admission in the music college in Tirupati. I used to be very sensitive those days and attempted suicide when I was harassed at the college and returned home.
I was there for a year only. Ragging exists everywhere and politics is at its peak in music colleges. My father was forced to put his fingerprints on a letter that stated that I was being sent back as I turned mad. I stood first in the state level competitions as soon as I joined college and won plaudits for the same. People couldn’t digest my small success. I didn’t know what the future had in store for me but my father desisted me from joining any college. I began giving tuitions and was paid a little over thousand. I got a job as an RJ in RED FM. I got trained for six months and during this time I attended auditions in Hyderabad. On the return journey to Tirupati, I met with an accident and fractured my hand. Around the same time we had to vacate to a tinier place as my father couldn’t repay the loan. The surgery on the hand was estimated to be a lakh and a journalist wrote an article on me. A samaritan organised my surgery and looked after me for a while.”
There was a time when Narasimha lived in Ghatkesar Sivalayam, sleeping, surviving on prasadam and bathing in the precincts. People began calling him for programmes and he was able to pay the house rent and also send some money home. He quips, “Not that I am completely settled now, I am just surviving. When my father died, I couldn’t arrange for five hundred rupees to bring his body back in an auto. Some friends came to help here. I was called for chorus in Swarabhishekam and recently sang a couple of songs with Geeta Madhuri. In Star Maa, mine was a wild card entry and I performed in an episode too. The last show was with the legendary singer SP Balasubramaniam.”
If these problems weren’t enough, Narasimha was tested Covid positive and was in the ICU for 8 days and 19 days altogether in the hospital. A few singers and people from Swapnika Reha Foundation supported him. He reveals that SPB was already sick, running temperature when he came to record for the show in Hyderabad. He is such a personality that in case he refused to travel, none would object. The show was being held with every person for the respective episodes. He says, “Singer Chitra didn’t want to travel and the organisers were okay with it. No one forces anyone here and it is wrong to spread false news and blame anyone for his passing away. Singer Malavika also was upset because she too was targeted. Everyone got it and we don’t know how we were infected. When I was admitted, I couldn’t breathe, I motivated myself. It is a miracle I came back alive.” About his recent works, he states, “one is a number in Dia, the Telugu version of the Kannada film, I also sang for Ee nagaraniki emaindi and I am now singing for LB Sreeram’s short films. I give online music classes to a very few students. There are no shows in the lockdown and some singers did help me and I am forever grateful to them.”
