Abhilash Pudukad, 44, skipped a heartbeat when his mobile phone was flooded with the texts of singer S. Janaki’s passing on Saturday (July 11, 2026) evening.

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Away in Abu Dhabi, he fervently hoped it was just another of those rumours that had surfaced six years ago, about which he had later joked with “Janaki Amma,” as he fondly called her. After all, he had spoken to her over a video call less than a fortnight ago, on June 29. In a state of panic, Mr. Abhilash switched on news channels and scoured the Internet, which instantly dashed his hopes. Reality dawned on him that Janaki Amma was no more.

“The image that flashed across my mind at that moment was of an angelic Amma, looking heavenward with raised hands. That was during our chat at her Chennai home in 2020, in the aftermath of those rumours. To tease her, I had shown her the photos and articles posted on social media in her memory. She was playful, saying those pictures were awful and asked me to arrange better ones. But then she grew pensive and told me she would be ready to leave when the moment came,” Mr. Abhilash reminisced over phone.

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Mr. Abhilash and his family back in Pudukad, a panchayat in Thrissur district in Kerala, barely slept that night. His wife Sangeetha kept calling to ensure he was alright. For Mr. Abhilash and his parents — Ayyappan and Radhamani — Janaki was not a distant icon. She was a personal presence in their lives for over two decades, ever since Mr. Abhilash first met her in Sharjah in 2004.

He can hardly recall a childhood memory without the small vintage Sanyo tape recorder and Amma’s mellifluous voice playing in the background. “My parents were diehard fans of Janaki Amma, and we had a collection of her songs. But Appa had one cassette with a single track - Singara Velane Deva (from the 1962 Tamil film Konjum Salangai) — which he played on loop countless times every day. Mother’s favourite was Innale Neeyoru (from the 1970 Malayalam film Sthree). Another memory is of a radio perched on a stand. There was this unwritten household rule that required me to climb onto a wooden stool and notch up the volume whenever All India Radio broadcast her songs,” Mr. Abhilash recalled.

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Yet, Mr. Abhilash wasn’t a convert until he reached tenth standard. That was when he began taking an interest in the singer who was a constant presence in his parents’ lives, and by extension his own. He started collecting her songs. Within six to seven years, his collection had soared to over 10,000 cassettes, stored in sacks for want of space in their small tiled house in Pudukad.

One day, while cleaning the tapes spread across his courtyard, a local panchayat member dropped in to inform him about the clearance of a family loan. Impressed by the sheer size of the collection, he brought in a local vernacular daily, Express, which turned Mr. Abhilash into a minor celebrity of sorts.

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Later, when he flew to Abu Dhabi for work, access to the Internet transformed his interest into an obsession. He became an active member of the Janaki Yahoo Group. “I realised I had become obsessed with Janaki Amma’s songs just like my Appa, playing them on loop through the day,” Mr. Abhilash chuckled.

Meeting Dr. Sreekumar, another ardent Janaki fan from the group, paved the way for his completely unexpected meeting with his idol. One evening, Dr. Sreekumar surprised him by passing the phone to Janaki herself. Mr. Abhilash was tongue-tied, needing time to gather his wits. Janaki asked him to meet her in Sharjah the next day.

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“I still remember Amma receiving me and my friend with glasses of orange juice she personally served. I touched her feet and requested her to sing a few lines of any song. I was dumbstruck when she sang Kesadipadam Thozhunnen from the film Pakalkkinavu - the very song for which I had won a steel glass in a contest while in fourth standard,” he recalled.

That was the beginning of a deeply personal bond between Mr. Abhilash, his family, and their idol that lost none of its sheen until her passing. Mr. Abhilash began calling her once a week, just as he did with his mother. He started visiting her in Chennai with gifts whenever he came home on holiday. “Amma had a tough time guiding me to her home in patchy Malayalam the very first time. I stayed there that day,” he recollected. It soon became his second home.

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Janaki was present at his wedding in Kozhikode in 2014. Later, when the couple had a daughter, it was Janaki who changed her name from Vedatmika to Aatmika.

Mr. Abhilash published the first volume of his book Aalapanathile Thenum Vayambum — a compilation of articles on her songs — in 2014. The second volume followed the next year. “It is my pride that it remains the only comprehensive book on her in any language to this day. It feels as though God chose me for it. Another ten books of 200 pages each will be published in that series next year,” Mr. Abhilash reflected.

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He has since saved his collection of Janaki’s songs — including rare tracks in Tulu, Badaga, Saurashtra, and Bengali that Janaki personally recorded and gave him — into multiple digital devices. He has urged bodies like the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi and Kerala State Chalachitra Academy to devote a space to the legendary singer and offered to share copies of his collection and rare photographs.

Mr. Abhilash last met Janaki Amma in person with his son Aadmaj Perumal in Hyderabad during Vishu in 2024. “I don’t know how her absence is going to affect my life. There hasn’t been a single day when I didn’t speak about her to someone. There is a void that can never be filled,” he rued.