This is a special report to honor a departed friend from India Smule Late Udayasri Bandelu (passed away on 27th of December 2021) and she is survived by her loving husband Rajeev Bandelu and her beloved son, Virat. Udayasri was a big part of Smule India community and friends to many on India Smule. We are deeply saddened by this untimely departure of a great friend to the blog page. The following is an interview we did a year ago about her music. Udayasri was a very enthusiastic singer and great support to the blog page and its causes. 

A big thanks to her husband Rajeev Bandelu and her son, Virat for many discussions in preparing this feature. Many friends to thank here. From Telugu Smule, especially Manoj Sarma (our greatest support from Telugu Smule community) for introducing Udayasri to us. All those common friends Sunandita Battacharjee, Mahema Jahan, Harika Peddibothla, Dr. Swetha (Melomanies, Telugu Smule community handle admin), Puneet Raj (thanks for having Udaya’s family know about this dedication), and Meenakshi Tripathi are acknowledged here. 

A few lines of dedication to Udayasri send to me from Rajeev to go with this feature. A full dedication is added at the end of this article. See below Addendum. 

“She was very hard-working, focused and loved to live every moment of life, very friendly, who spreads love and smiles everywhere… . In our family she was the one who sings and sang so beautiful that everyone want to listen to her every time we met. Virat our 5 yr old son, I can’t express what he is in her life. Our marriage 9th May 2005, 16 yrs of marriage, she was always with me and supports and stands beside me. There are many things to say about her beautiful nature but I can’t express everything in words. Just want to say to Smule India blog that her dedication and love for music singing will last forever.”

Remembering all the fond memories of speaking with Udayasri when we made that call to India at a very late time of a busy Sunday; Earlier that day Uadayasri send a message that for her the most important thing is taking care of her child and will not have time during the day to speak with us. Yet, after all the household chores, she found time and was very excited to speak about her music to us. Such was her dedication to music. Here is what we heard from her about her love of music exactly in her own words. We avoided any extensive edits of her thoughts.

Please tell us about yourself

I’m Udayasri aka Udaya aka Sri. I am a housewife, entrepreneur and, music enthusiast. I love to explore things, especially the ones I have interests in – like singing, cooking and, baking. I am compassionate about animals. I’m a big-time dog lover and a proud owner of a fluffball. In my free time, I love singing, listening to music and watching movies.

I was born in a Telugu family full of music lovers. I’m a commerce graduate, currently settled in Raipur Chhattisgarh. I had worked as an HR for a firm and have experience in training and placement cells as well at a management institute. I have successfully run my own bakery business selling customised cakes. 

A brief description of your growing up with special reference to your music

My first motivation came from my music teacher when he saw me perform a bhajan in the auditions of a solo singing competition. He was very pleased and he said “You are blessed by Goddess Saraswati !” – His encouraging words left a long-lasting love for music and singing in me. I represented my school and won awards in multiple inter and intra-school singing competitions at state-level. Love for music is in my blood as I come from a family of music lovers. My father loves singing and plays the mouth organ beautifully. My mother sings as well and idols Lata ji and Rafi Sahab so I grew up listening to their beautiful melodies. I have a brother who took interest in rap and his wife is a trained singer. To me and my family music has always been a source of happiness. 

Are you trained in classical music? If so, describe all experiences.

 Unfortunately, I didn’t get an opportunity to have formal training other than some basics that I have learned during my school days. I’ve always been a self-learner. I believe in a quote, “the path of light is the quest for knowledge”. If one is willing to be a self-learner, anyone can develop yourself. I am still learning every day. As they say, learning never stops, it’s abundant. The more you listen to music, the more you learn.

Describe each stage of childhood, schooling, college days etc, how music was a part of growing up?

Being an ardent music lover I started performing at a very early age. The love for music kept on growing in me with time. Whenever time permitted or opportunities prevailed, I took part in cultural events, social gatherings and music competitions. I had a good company of friends around who always stood beside me, supported me and motivated me to sing. I’ve also been part of various stage shows where I got a chance to perform with some amazingly talented singers and bands. 

What is your impression about the Smule experience? What do you like about it most and dislike about it if any?

I’ve been using Smule for more than one year now and the journey has been incredible. Never did I think that an app would play such a crucial role in my life. I’ve always been interested in things related to music. Smule to me felt like a paradise since it had everything I hoped to see in a singing app. I’ve come across some amazing co-singers here, and made a lot of good friends. I found a true mentor in Manoj Sarma who taught me a lot of technical details about singing and also believed in my potential. It has been a fantastic journey throughout and also a source of learning as well. The thing I like most about Smule is that you get an opportunity to sing along with some amazing singers, get to know them and also learn from them. Features like Live Jams are extremely entertaining where you get an opportunity to sing for a live audience and get real-time feedback. 

Dislikes, well the only dislike I can think of is maybe the content regulations to prevent objectionable language and VOCs ! Although Smule is very responsible, I think there’s room for improvement. Rest, it’s awesome! The updates are good. I like how they continuously try to improve the app in terms of performance.

Do you think lyrics are important? Yes or No, why?

 Definitely YES ! Being a singer and an enthusiast who loves to sing multilingual songs If a singer connects to the soul of the song it’s because of the lyrics. Lyrics play a very vital role in expressing a song. Lyrics are paramount in any kind of music. Whether it is a pop song rock or hip hop it is the lyrics that makes you humm to the tunes of the song. Understanding the meaning of the lyrics can amplify your senses and allow you to vanish in a state of tranquility. Whenever I sing in a language that I don’t know I translate the lyrics to understand the feel of the song. It works wonders. 

What is your take on India’s pop music? And new trends?

Music is in the roots of our country which connects us to all genres. Pop music has been there for a while now and I have been a lover of pop music since the 90’s when they were a trendsetter in the Indian music industry. One such song from early 2000 – “Piya Basanti” is one of my favorite pop songs which I love  to perform. Talking about trends, well, I like to be in touch with everything and I do enjoy raps which recently have taken a quick boom in the music industry.

Comment about the importance of classical music in this era? Yes or no, why?

Classical music is the heart and soul of music. If given time and opportunity to learn, I would never have second thoughts. This Reminds me of a very good quote – “If Music is a Place — then Jazz is the City, Folk is the Wilderness, Rock is the Road and Classical is a Temple”. That’s how important I think classical music is.

What is music to you?

Music to me is like oxygen to breathe. I find immense pleasure and happiness to be indulged in music. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. It’s like meditation for me that makes me get into a whole new world away from the practical life and routine.

Where do you want to go from here in five years?

Getting into playback singing is my dream and I am working on it. Taking music professionally is what I am looking forward to in upcoming years. The curious and creative side of me would like to do covers of great songs in my own style soon. I love baking so I’m looking forward to resuming my bakery business as well. 

List all your achievements

I have won prizes and awards since childhood for singing but I truly believe that I have a long way to go and achieve much more as a singer. 

END THOUGHTS / DEDICATION 

Udayasri, an ardent music lover, who takes music as her passion and sees it very seriously. She enjoyed everything a family life has to offer, who considered her son as her precious gift and taking care of her family as her priority. In her mind also loved music more than anything as we hear from her. She dreamt of singing in Bollywood, and thought of bringing her entrepreneurship of baking talent more than a hobby. A sweet friend to many on Smule. Even in the adversity she was calm and poised. Last year she struggled with COVID. As you may see here on her instagram page Insta ID : __udayasri__  where she made a video where she appealed to people who disregard the calls for social distancing. Just before her passing, Udaysri was on a trip to Rajasthan and suddenly fell sick with viral infections and breathed her last breath. But like she mentioned in her interview she was breathing music and her music on Smule will remain eternal here through this article. All of her friends from Smule India would love to keep our hands together in prayer for a beloved artist whose music was not only top notch but conveyed a person that we all know was very kind. We never ever thought we would have to publish an article like this, but the unfortunate truth is this. Udayasri sees this in heaven and the best gift we can give her in this world is to honor her as a talented musician. Here are a few of her songs selected from her Smule profile.

https://www.smule.com/__udayasri__

Udaysri was a big part of the India Smule community. Here is a beautiful collab Udaysri was very proud to be part of made during India’s Independence day celebrations.

With Manoj Sarma whom she considered as a mentor and friend from Telugu Smule community

With Sunandita a friend to many on Smule who cares about her friends.

With Meenakshi Tripati Udaya’s one of close friends on Smule.

With Puneet

Addendum

The following is a tribute sent to me by Udaya’s husband Rajeev Bandelu and it is added here without any changes as submitted. Rajeev wanted this to appear here as his dedication to a wife he dearly miss and had pleasure knowing for a life time.

Anyone who knows Udayasri (Shraddha) , knows her as a lively, bubbly person and a box full of talents. Whoever got a chance to know her once becomes a friend for a lifetime. That is what happened to me.

Her struggle in life started at early age of 5 when she lost her mother. It became very difficult for her father to manage his job and take care of her along with his aging parents. That’s when his brother, (Udayasri’s Uncle and aunt) voluntarily decided to take her responsibility. It was a big decision for both of them as they too were very young and were the parents of a 2 year old kid. Since then they took on this responsibility and took care of her as their own daughter.

Till Udayasri (Shraddha) reached 8th standard (till she was 13 years old), her father decided to re-marry a widow who had a 6 year old son in hoped that her son would get a father and his daughter would get a mother. She was then brought back to her father. All was fine for an year. However, while the father continued to treat both of them equally and fairly, the stepmom did not treat her the same way. Udayasri (Shraddha) used to take care of everyone in family including her aging grandparents. Her stepmother did not like her getting praised by anyone in the house. Things got far worse when her parents had a child of their own. Her father struggled to talk to her as there was a constant nagging from her step mother from the other side. She was slowly deprived of love, affection and attention and was left like a servant at home.

Over the years when there was no love received from home, she got attracted to a young man living next door who started loving her unconditionally. When the situation at home started worsening further and when she crossed 18, she decided to run away from the toxic relations and both of them got married. Since then, her father declared her dead to him. Post marriage, she initially faced some challenges at in-laws but was constantly supported by her husband throughout. Although her in-laws were financially very sound, she, having learnt being independent herself did not like the idea of receiving any financial help from anyone. Both of them ran their livelihood by working for a reputed institute for Engineering and MBA as a training and placement counsellor with less salary.

After almost two years of her marriage, her uncle decided to finally break the shackles and supported her. He thought if there is no one standing in her support from her family, its no bigger misfortune. He also did try to convince her father to reconcile with his daughter but her father was still rigid on accepting her back and even broke all ties with his brother just for supporting her. Till her last breath, she proudly called her uncle and aunt as her parents.

In addition, she faced lot many issues with her pregnancy for almost 13 years but this did not stop her from continuing her passion towards baking. She always used to find new alternatives to keep herself engaged and occupied. She was highly resourceful and used to make anything beautiful by using whatever was available with her and that’s how she started her own baking business and within no time she got famous in Raipur for her delicious and unique styles of cakes. The couple’s joy knew no bounds when after a long wait of 13 years they were finally blessed with a baby boy who is now known as Virat.

Her uncle’s son Aakash who is 3 years younger to her, considers only her as his sister who according to him is much much more than a real sister to him. Udayasri (Shraddha) took the entire responsibility of Aakash’s marriage arrangements single handedly and ensured that the event was a grand success. As per her uncle, he considers her as his ‘son’. Aakash and his wife Sripriya were very fond of her for a simple fact that she was the go-to person for solving any kind of issues.

She used to be the center of attention of all her friends due to the fact that she had an uncanny sense of humor and used to find almost everything funny. All her close friends and family know that her laugh was highly infectious.

An year post Virat, she started rekindling her hobby of singing by joining the Smule community. What started out as a mere hobby, changed to a beautiful experience where she started singing to her heart’s content and started earning fame across the Smule community. In this journey, she made some pretty amazing friends who turned out to be her family away from home.

In 2021 , she was tested positive for COVID19 and her health drastically deteriorated and she struggled for more than a month . It was life threatening for her but only because of her sheer will power , she came out of it stronger and also shared her experience and knowledge on social media for others to be aware off this deadly disease . She became a great motivation and support for many people struggling with COVID at that time .

Just a couple months before her demise, she started to make a name for herself by once again following her passion for cooking and baking. She opened her two brands for food service, Udi’s Kitchen ( for traditional Andhra Meals) and Udilicious Bakes (for cakes). Within no time this business started flourishing and her name started to rise all over Raipur once again.

Her husband Rajiv was her constant companion who was there with her throughout her struggles and achievements. They both equally shared the responsibility of raising Virat. Rajiv also helped her set up her business and supported her throughout.

Unfortunately this success was short lived as she passed away with a lot of struggles, good and bad memories at a tender age of 34 years. All these 34 years she ensured living each and every breath of her life with a smile and without any regrets.