The devastation unleashed by Covid-19 and Cyclone Amphan has brought back to 81-year-old Mathuranath Bhattacharya memories of the unbearable pain of losing his son in the prime of youth.

Bhattacharya, a classical music trainer in Durgapur town, has donated Rs 20 lakh, almost his entire life’s savings, to the emergency relief fund of the chief minister in memory of his younger son.

Bhattacharya, a retired Durgapur Steel Plant employee, said the destruction left in its wake by the cyclone and the faces of hungry and crying people on television had moved him to join the fight against the pandemic.

“The cries of people after losing their kin reminded me of the day I lost my younger son a decade ago. I know the pain and I am living with it,” Bhattacharya said.

The octogenarian, who has a double post-graduation in classical music from Prachin Kala Kendra, Chandigarh, and Nazrul Geeti from the Bangiya Sangeet Parishad, decided to prematurely withdraw a fixed deposit from the bank and contribute to the government fund.

The Sangeet Ratna award winner from Bangiya Sangeet Parishad (1991-1992) has donated the money in memory of his younger son, Rudrajit Bhattacharya, a classical singer who died of a heart attack at the age of 35.

“I am mostly living alone since my younger son died a decade ago. I had lost my wife earlier…. My elder son is well-to-do and stays elsewhere. I don’t need much money to survive at this age and decided to donate almost whatever I had saved in memory of Rudrajit,” Bhattacharya said after handing over the cheque to deputy mayor Anindita Mukherjee on Saturday.

Bhattacharya, who runs Bhabataran Music College that he set up decades ago in the Durgapur steel township, trains children in classical music.

Asked what he will do if he requires a large sum of money for any emergency, Bhattacharya said he had left everything in the hands of God.

“I find my dead son among the children who come to learn music from me in my college. I can survive on whatever I earn as tuition fees,” he said.

Durgapur deputy mayor Anindita Mukherjee, an avowed music lover, said it was a great initiative. “I have seen only big industrialists or entrepreneurs donating large sums to government relief funds. Today I was surprised to see a common man giving up all his savings so easily. It is a great initiative,” she said.