Konetampettai – the TN village that had a special place in SPB’s heart

Though his father belonged to a village near Nellore, playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam was born in his grandmother’s home at a nondescript hamlet in Tiruvallur district in present day Tamil Nadu.

Konetampettai, 120 km from here, on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border had a special place in SPB’s heart till his last breath. SPB was not just born at his maternal grandfather’s house in the village where Telugu-speaking people are the majority but spent his early years before moving to Nellore with his parents.

A man who never forgot his roots, the legendary playback singer paid a visit to Konetampettai as recently as 2018 to inaugurate toilets at a school built using funds donated by him. Whenever he met people from his village, he would go down the memory lane and reminisce about his childhood days.

Read | Legendary playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam passes away

“This is my maternal grandmother’s village. This is the place where I was born. I had always wanted to do something at my birth place. I am happy that God has given me the ability to give back something to my people,” SPB had said, while visiting the village two years back.

The only Brahmin family in the village, 3 km from Pallipattu the border town on Tamil Nadu side, SPB’s mother had come here for delivery of her child. SPB’s father S P Sambamurthy was a Harikatha artist who travelled from one place to another to perform.

Rajendra Prasad, whose family enjoyed close ties with SPB, told Deccan Herald that the legendary playback singer always considered Konetampettai as his own village. “He would ask about the temples, ponds and a banyan tree which is famous in our village. SPB was a man who never forgot his past,” Prasad, a native of the village but lives in Chennai, said.

Talking about SPB’s respect for friends, Prasad said the singer had a friend who was also his namesake but known as “Chitta Mutti” in the village. “In 2018, when SPB was in our village, he called his childhood friend who was standing some distance away from him and enquired about his health. He also gave him some money,” the businessman said.

When Prasad’s father Duraisamy Chetty, a landlord and businessman, died in 2004, SPB had come all the way to the village to pay his last respects. Villagers also fondly recall SPB inviting every resident of the village for the unveiling of his father’s statue in Nellore and the special arrangements he had made for them during their visit. They also said SPB would always stop by and spend a few minutes if someone told him he hailed from Konetampettai at his concerts within the country and outside.

SPB’s parents got married at a small Vinayagar Temple in Konetampettai and till today, the expenses for the daily pooja is incurred by the singer’s family which has allocated funds.

On SPB’s early days, Prasad said: “His mother’s name was Shakuntala, but people always called her Chinamma. SPB was raised in Konetampettai till he was six years old. He had visited the village several times and would recall memories made there every time someone from the village met him.”

Narrating another incident to stress SPB’s affiliation with the village, Prasad said when the villagers built a temple in Nerkundram on the outskirts of Chennai, the singer attended the bhoomi pooja as well as the consecration.

“He was a man who never forgot his roots. He never had any airs about his achievements and being a legend. He was soft-spoken and would attend my calls or respond to messages immediately. We have maintained the friendship for so many decades,” Prasad added.