A mother's sorrowful rendition for a departed son

A mother sang her son's favourite folk song during funeral procession of his son in Chhattisgarh. Poonam Virat's son Suraj Tiwari died due to a heart attack at the age of 30 on Saturday morning.

Rajnandgaon: With an aching throat and a broken voice, a mother sang her son's favourite folk song during the last rites, tugging at the heartstrings of those present during the funeral.

Poonam Virat's son Suraj Tiwari died due to a heart attack at the age of 30 on Saturday morning. Few days back, he was admitted to the hospital and was discharged, only to take part in a stage show. Soon after the event commenced, he suffered chest pain and died.

Suraj's funeral procession was taken out from his residence in Mamta Nagar, with his mother singing the folk song 'chola maati ke ram ekar ka bharosa chola maati ke ram' and friends playing musical instruments.

Though the song has sad and heartbreaking lyrics, it has a beautiful message. It conveys the message that the human body is nothing but a 'chola' (gown) made of soil. The song adds that no one knows if there is a tomorrow or not, as we are just a body made of soil that will crumble down any instance.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Suraj's mother Poonam said, "An artist's goodbye would have been incomplete without art."More than a mother-son relationship, the two artists celebrated their musical bond."

Whenever we sang and played musical instruments, we were in a different world. We were just artistes, a team, not a mother-son duo. It was only fair to give him a musical goodbye, so I kept aside my motherly agony and I packed my tears in a suitcase that I will open later," Poonam said with a heavy heart.

Suraj's friend P Kalihari could not hold back his tears during the condolence meet held for the departed artist. Kalihari said, "I had no words to narrate the moment when Poonam sang a melodious song for her son. An army of folk artists joined to pay homage to my friend, but no one had in their whole lives heard a song more emotional than what was sung by his mother".

Poonam Virat and her son are well-known theatre personalities of Chhattisgarh folk art culture. They even conducted foreign theatre performances along with Habib Tanwar, who is a heritage of Chhattisgarh folk art and culture.

The mother-son duo had travelled around 22 countries together and performed stage shows. Suraj was well known as an artist of the Chhattisgarh Lok Kala Manch. The whole family is involved in promoting folk music.

Earlier, Suraj Tiwari has planned to produce a biopic movie on Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh in Chhattisgarhi. He was in constant touch with different people from the film industry to ensure a fine cast and remarkable cinematography. However, after his demise, the film is stuck.