Imphal, Slain Manipuri musician Chongtham Vikram Singh’s 86-year-old mother on Thursday recalled how, days before his death following an assault in Delhi, he had sent a message to her expressing happiness over the good results of his son in semester exams.
“I have lost appetite since his death… The next morning, I woke up early and hid the newspaper so that his father didn’t come across the news. Chongtham Kamala Devi, a legendary playback singer fondly called the ‘Lata Mangeshkar of Manipur’, in an interaction with PTI at her Thangmeiband residence in Imphal West district, recalled how she and her son would talk about arts and music. “Three-four days before his death, he sent me a message saying that my grandson has achieved high marks in his semester exams and would receive awards… “So, we decided to inform him about the death after dinner… Singh, who had lived in Kilokari for more than two decades, was a well-known musician and guitarist. He was the lead guitarist of the Manipur rock band Phoenix in the early 1980s and later worked as a music teacher and performer in Delhi.
We were very happy,” Devi said. However, we could not do that and said Vikram was injured after being assaulted by some people and was in ICU. Devi said Vikram would often send her messages related to arts, songs and musical instruments. I only ate some bananas,” she said.
Family members on Wednesday evening performed the last rites of the musician after his mortal remains were flown to Imphal.
