Tuesday dawned to the terrible news that musician Balabhaskar’s family had met with an accident at Pallippuram near Kazhakkoottam early on Tuesday. What makes the tragedy even more painful is that while Balabhaskar, 41, and his wife Lakshmi, 39, are battling for their lives, unknown to them, their two-year-old daughter Tejaswini died in the accident. The couple, married for 18 years, had the child after 14 years of prayers and treatment. The unfortunate accident happened while the family was on their way to Thiruvananthapuram after paying obeisance at various temples in Thrissur and Ernakulam for their lone child born after a long wait. Their driver Arjun, 31, too is critically injured.
The Toyota Innova multi-utility vehicle in which they were travelling from Attingal side towards Thiruvananthapuram rammed into a tree on the opposite side of the National Highway, about 150 metres from the Pallipuram CRPF camp. Hospital sources said Balabhaskar has suffered multiple organ injuries, dislocation of cervical spine, injury to brain, serious abdominal injury and femur fracture. He was subjected to emergency surgery for correcting the spinal dislocation. He is on the ventilator and will continue to remain on the life support system for 48 hours. The doctors will take a call on further surgical procedures depending on his condition during the next two to three days. Lakshmi, according to sources, has suffered fractures and is being treated for her injuries. Driver Arjun too has
sustained fractures in the accident.
The accident occurred at around 4 am and nearby residents woke up hearing the crash and rushed to the spot. A few vehicles that passed by also stopped and took part in the rescue operation. There were conflicting versions regarding who drove the vehicle. While the police said it was Arjun who drove the vehicle, some locals say it was Balabhaskar. “Balabhaskar was in the driver’s seat and his wife sitting in the co-driver seat. Both of them were screaming in pain, while the child was on the floor in front on the left side. The driver was in the rear side. The locals and police initially took out the child, who was almost motionless and bleeding from the nose,” said Divya a nearby resident.
The car in which the musicianand his family were traveling.
Mangalapuram sub-inspector Ajayan J. said that the highway patrol team officials who carried out the rescue said that Arjun was driving the vehicle and Balabhaskar was on the front left seat with the baby on his lap. His wife was in the rear seat. “We will get a clear picture only after recording the statement of the accident survivors,” he said. The police highway patrol team said that the child was immediately rushed to a private hospital but was pronounced dead. The three others were taken out of the vehicle and rushed to the hospital. The driver and the passenger on the front left seat were said to be wearing seat belts and the airbags in the front got inflated in the impact of the collision. The body of the baby is kept at the hospital mortuary.
Balabhaskar, the child prodigy who started his music career at a young age of 12 with stage shows, is the youngest music composer to have worked in the Malayalam film industry by composing for the movie Mangalya Pallak while he was just 17. The Thiruvananthapuram-based musician shot to fame after his compositions in the albums Ninakaai and Aadyamai became huge hits. Exceptionally well-versed in Carnatic music, Bala has performed with noted musicians all over the world, including Ustad Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, Louis Banks, Vikku Vinayakram, Hariharan, Mattannoor Sankarankutty, Ranjit Barot and Fazal Qureshi. A recipient of the Bismillah Khan Yuva Sangeet Kaar Puraskaar in 2008, Balabhaskar has composed music for ad films, movies, teleserial titles and albums in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit.
As the news of the accident spread, many from the film and music industries rushed to the hospital. Social media is abuzz with prayers for the family and the child, memories about good old times, informative posts on the importance of practising safe driving measures like avoiding night drives and using baby car seats for child safety. There are even furious reactions against splashing fake news and misinformation. What they say Santhosh Rajagopal: The unfortunate death of a 2 yr old in the accident which injured Balabhaskar. None of our vehicles has provisions for child safety. They ride unrestrained. In many countries parents would be fined for this. Time for statutory provisions to ensure child safety during travel. Prayers are just not enough (sic).
Adishankar Sundararaman: An innocent child has lost its life and parents are left facing the trauma and the loss. The details are not known but looking at the state of the vehicle after the crash, it appears that if they had been wearing seat belts and the child had been on a child seat, everyone could have survived and the injuries would have been less. With so many advanced cars with high top speeds and the many crashes, India urgently needs a clear policy on the use of child seats for cars so there is more awareness and usage (sic).
Sreekutty S. Rupesh: Please respect the situation of the family who have lost their child and are in hospital now. Do not use this time to share safety measures and travel advice and all sorts of forwarded goodness. This should have been done earlier, or a few days after this grieving. For now everyone knows that it's unsafe to travel at odd hours or to travel with small children without proper safety measures. If this was your close friend or relative,you wouldn't have been in a position to share and talk so much. Try and maintain that thought for a musician and a wonderful person whom we all love. Prayers for Balabhaskar and his family (sic)
Sajna Vinish: If at all anyone retains an iota of respect and do love the family, please do pray for Balu chetan and Lakshmi chechi instead of flooding timelines with misinformation and group selfies. I know some of them are heartfelt and genuine and I respect that. But this is one of the worst tragedies that has transpired for a family and there are family members who haven’t been informed about the nitty gritty details only coz we want them to stay emotionally protected for now...If you want to grieve or pray, please do so, but with dignity without using it as an opportunity to present yourself along with the tragedy (sic).
