The circumstances of the untimely and tragic death of playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as K.K., in Kolkata after a live event raise certain questions. That he had endeared himself to several generations of music aficionados was evident from the way people, including the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, as well as others lining up to bid him goodbye, remembered him.
The police have ruled out foul play in his death but reports suggest that he was made to conduct his performance under extremely insalubrious circumstances.
The auditorium has a seating capacity of less than 3,000 people but more than double that number of people was present. The air-conditioner was dysfunctional and the venue had hardly any ventilation. The series of spotlights that emit a considerable amount of heat along with illumination added to the singer’s discomfiture. One simply fails to understand how the organisers can get everything wrong and the authorities merrily allow the concert to happen. How can an artiste perform in such a situation and the audience enjoy the performance? A series of factors could have caused the unfortunate death other than the singer’s health but the organisers and the civic authorities must be made to answer why they allowed the show to go on.
India is slowly returning to normal life after a couple of years of shutdown. There was very little public activity in the preceding years owing to the pandemic Covid-19. Artistes were confined to their homes and music lovers had little options. Huge crowds may converge at the first opportunity on such events but the municipal authorities in every town and every city must wake up to the fact that there will be greedy people out to cash in on the rush and it could result in avoidable tragedies.
