‘I couldn’t see his face properly’

‘I couldn’t see his face properly’
Deccan Herald

“Amma elli? Amma elli?” went Raghavendra just after he and his two brothers stepped out of the car. The time was 7.45 pm on Thursday. Otherwise, the scene was very quiet at house in Sadashivnagar.

Raghavendra, who only hours ago was crying and begging an unrelenting sea of fans to let his father’s last journey pass smoothly, was unconsciously echoing the reality. After all, wasn’t his Amma - Parvathamma - the only one left now?

And left how? Nearly 30 hours after her celebrated husband breathed his last, Parvathamma looked condemned to grieve in public. Private space continued to elude her even when it came to sharing her grief with her 90-year old mother. Mother and daughter too were on camera!

Even after returning from the burial, she did not even get the space to reflect that she was coming home alone. Politicians had come to offer their condolences, media was there to cover it and they stepped into her home - with her. Among those calling on were senior BJP leader L K Advani and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu.

Composing herself, she spoke to the media: “I lost my God. I cannot do anything. He earned so much for us and he is gone now. Where ever he is, he will take care of his five children. He will only have to guide them,” she said of her husband.

She regretted that none of the traditional rites of the funeral ceremony could be done properly. “They (the fans) claimed him as their property and we let it be. I could not even see him properly (for the last time)” she observed.

Big plans

The Rajkumar family wants to do ‘something big’ for the Kannada film industry, she said and noted with some help from the government it could be achieved. “We already have an idea of what we want to do. It was discussed with him (Rajkumar) a few days ago,” she said and added that the family would discuss it again and make it public soon. She also said that her family would extend whatever help it could to the families of the people who lost their lives in the violence during the funeral procession. Incidentally, she was to learn of these deaths from mediapersons themselves.