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Roshan and Rithvik say music is their constant companion
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We were born to sing, say the brothers. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
SOMETIMES, DISABILITIES cease to exist after a point in a person's life. Not because of medical miracles, but because the disabled person starts achieving things that a non-disabled person would be envious of.
With brothers Roshan and Rithvik, you're spending half the time trying to remember that they're blind. There is no faltering footstep, no nervousness or fear of being bumped into. And there's laughter. Everything apart, all you want to do is hear their music.
"I think I was born to sing," says 25-year-old Roshan, after a fantastic rendition of "Tu hi re". "It comes very easily, and I spend lots of time practising also. Even if I don't feel like rehearsing, oh, my brother... he is like a possessed person."
Junior S.P.
Roshan is popularly known as Junior S.P. Balasubramaniam, for, as he himself admits, he tries to "replicate the voice modulations" of S.P. I grow sceptical and ask him to sing for me. As soon as Roshan sings "Bhale bhale chandada", I put a clamp on my mouth, but continue to use the "sing and show me" to extract some superb songs.
Roshan sings Hindi and Kannada songs with aplomb, and declares that he wants to become a playback singer. But unlike his idol, he is classically trained. "A Carnatic or Hindustani base is very important," says Roshan. Then, justifying his inspiration, "But S.P.B. is different. Even Yesudas has once told S.P.B.: `you may not know music, but music knows you'."
Fifteen-year-old Rithvik is a step ahead. If his brother has other interests such as computers (Roshan attends a computer course all day) and reading, all Rithvik does is make music. Snehalatha, their mother, widens her eyes, and says that the younger son "is having many affairs". Pause. "With the keyboard, mridangam, harmonium, and violin!"
The brothers have been performing on stage since they were kids. Apparently, they used to sing duets wherein Rithvik used to do the female voice! Now, they travel the country, performing on various platforms.
"I see my blindness as a boon," says Roshan, grinning in my direction. "A sighted person has to manage everything by himself, and has to be alone. I'm always accompanied." Snehalatha feels that there is no need to demarcate disabled people everywhere. "If a disabled person sings terribly, please don't give them a special prize as consolation." Except for mobility, Roshan says it's embarrassing to be treated with kid gloves all the time.
The boys' parents admit to struggling in the beginning, but they soon realised there was "no point brooding". They say they now "feel handicapped when the boys are not around". As Roshan puts it: "If you keep knocking on opportunity's door, one day, you can even break it open."
R.M.
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