Musician Siddharth Basrur Opens Up About His Battle With Addiction

The taboos surrounding drug addiction across the world often stifle the voices of those caught in its grip. Drug addiction is an extremely isolating experience—and it robs you of everything you hold dear. But when you’re spiralling it’s often very difficult to see the price you’re paying.

We’ve all heard and read stories of addiction across the globe, but recently, Humans of Bombay carried Indian vocalist, composer and a playback singer Siddharth Basrur’s story that recounts his dark days battling addiction. As ever, by providing a safe space to bring uncomfortable and less-talked about conversations to the fore, Humans of Bombay shines a light on a very real problem faced by many. Scroll down to read Basrur’s story of struggle and eventual triumph as he battled his demons.

“When I was 9 years old, my parents started drifting apart so they decided to send me to my grandparent’s house to keep me away from the tension. I studied at Poddar for about 2 years and then shifted to boarding school when I was 11 years…and I hated it. I was miserable. I was a closed off kid who wasn’t really social or good at studies and I just wanted to leave.

The only thing I really loved was music, but there was this one audition I took in boarding school where I was rejected and I decided never to try again,” starts Siddharth Basrur on Humans of Bombay. Soon after, he moved back to Bombay to a smaller school with only six students to a class, and narrates an incident from there that marked the start of a long, painful and difficult time of his life.

“There was this one time when there was an event at school and there was some money in a drawer that I stole. I then went across the road to an alcohol store and bought my first beer from that money. I started stealing from home as well and thats where it all started. It got worse when I went to college…I didn’t know what to do with the new found freedom.

There was a pub opposite Nationals where my friends and I would just go and drink all day. In order to support the alcohol I started stealing bigger amounts from my mom. I ended up getting caught a couple of times, went to a shrink, stopped for a while but relapsed soon enough…I would even drink alone.

My stealing became worse too. My father had remarried so I stole my step mother’s jewellery and sold it off for almost peanuts and got caught again. They removed me from that college and tried to take control of my life…but It was a little late. I had begun to smoke weed and hash with my college seniors.

Over time that progressed to chemicals—anti epileptic tablets. People said half a tablet was enough but I would take 2, then 5 then 10 until I was taking 30 pills a day. I shifted to a having bottles of cough syrup that had opium in it….and I was hooked.”

During this time, Basrur’s mother refused to give him any extra money, so he decided to drop out of college to get a job and earn for himself when he was 18. His girlfriend at the time tried hard to spin him off his addictions, but to no avail. He used to be in a band at the time, but quit that too, at the mercy of his drugs. The spiral of his life continued as his mother moved to Dubai after remarrying, and he had to stay in Bombay by himself in a PG.

“I got thrown out of 3 different PGs for stealing and drug abuse. I’ve gotten into shit with the cops for stealing as well. My mother would send me money from Dubai but because I was so addicted, I would spend all of it too soon and then just starve for days together…it was terrible,” he shares.

When he was 21, he had reached a point towards never looking back, and his mother flew down from Dubai to reason with him and check him into a rehabilitation centre. “I decided to enroll myself in one such centre a little outside Bombay and that’s what changed my life,” he says. Over the 15 months he spent there, he was given the freedom to write and pursue whatever he wanted to. The space helped him write songs, sing, and work for a few years after.

Coming back to Bombay and starting afresh was difficult. Being terrified, Basrur focussed all his energy on his work, and got a diploma in Sound Engineering. He worked with Channel V, Web 18 and continued to work on his music as well. “A few years later… after I’d sent out my work to almost everyone I had a breakthrough. I got to sing 2 songs for a movie and I haven’t looked back since,” he says proudly.

“What’s it like being sober? I’ve been sober for 13 and a half years and I can say it’s the reason I’m happy today. It’s the reason I’m grateful today. For my family who has loved me through my best and my worst and in fact loved me harder when I was so difficult to love. For the hundreds of second chances I got,” Basrur shares.

He adds, singing off, “Today I’m living my dream of being a musician and I’m engaged to the woman of my dreams who accepts my past and loves me. My message? Using drugs is not cool…being dependent can ruin your life. It’s never too late to turn it around so don’t stress about what people say. Those who love you will no matter what, and that’s all you really need.”

Read the full Humans of Bombay post here