Lataji

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFpXv4eVfjo

Listening to her as I type about an end of sweetness; India's melody - who has seen India through her years, part of India's consciousness. She had made Nehru cry, with her song ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Log’, one of India’s best patriotic songs, which was first sung on the republic day in 1963. The song was written by poet Pradeep, composed by C. Ramchandra, and sang by Lata Mangeshkar. Nightingale was asked by Pakistan in replace of Kashmir. She was born in Indore on 28th Sept. 1929. 

Lataji known as  Didi recorded songs in over 36 Indian languages including English, Russian, Dutch &  Swahili. Didi articulated our feelings -  care, love, separation, longing, pain, death - at every stage of our life, knowingly or unknowingly.

Having lived for so many years she has been heartthrob of  many generations of this country across the world, who had been admired and rewarded by all the Prime Ministers of India. She was very fond of Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

The queen of melody died at the Breach Candy Hospital on Sunday morning at 8.12 am. She was on ventilator after her condition deteriorated, being effected by Covid and pneumonia. Her body was brought to her residence in the afternoon and she was buried at Shivaji Park with full state honour. She left us on the day of visarjan after Saraswati Puja.  The day when Saraswati  Mata was immersed is the day Lataji departed.

Didi had a tough childhood & once she earned enough to secure her family financially, and was the support for her family in what was then derisively termed as the ‘Mangeshkar mafia’ . Her brother Pt Hridaynath was not so lucky, but the sisters were. She received the Bharath Ratna in 2001.  Her father, Master Dinanath was a gifted singer & performer in his own right, but his love for his motherland & dharma overshadowed everything. He expounded on the problems that Gautam Budhha's kingdom fell into, once it abdicated its weapons & defense, in the name of ahimsa.  Pt Dinanath Mangeshkar  staged it as a musical. Risky experiments rendered the Mangeshkar company penniless in a few years, resulting in the untimely death of Pt Dinanathji. But  this was followed by a phoenix-like rise of Lata Didi & her siblings.

Together in heaven, at last ! It is said that marriages are made in heaven, and in the case of former Rajasthan cricket captain, Raj Singh Dungarpur and legendary singer, Lata Mangeshkar, it has actually turned out so. It is said that Raj and Lata were madly in love with each other and wanted to get married, but as the former BCCI President came from a royal family, it was not possible for him to tie the knot with a commoner. It is said that Raj even requested his father, late Maharawal Lakshman Singh, the then ruler of Dungarpur for his consent, but he flatly rejected the idea. After that, though they continued to remain friends, both decided to remain unmarried till their last breath. Raj passed away in 2009 after prolonged battle with Alzheimer. Very few also know that it was Raj who gave Lata the pet name 'Mithoo' as he used to fondly call her that. Music and cricket found each other. They could not marry because of family restrictions, but it's said that both remained single for each other. Latha sang a concert for the team, after their 1983 win.  

Unfortunately,  people tried to communalise her at and after her death. Lata Mangeshkar was a religion of her own; her work cut across politics

Lata Mangeshkar's 'Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam' was no empty rhetoric. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prJ9NbOycEI

If she is being mourned in Pakistan as much as in India, then it is only because she sang for mankind, she will live through thousands of her songs for as long as civilisation exists; which may not be very long, what with many kinds of viruses and other toxic elements polluting and poisoning our planet. The Goddess’s songs owed allegiance to neither saffron nor green. They were a religion of their own, a colour so vibrant, deep, tapestried, and rich, they have no human definition. 

As I end, I wonder 

"Ajeeb dastan hai yeh, Kahan shuru kahan khatam, Yeh manzilein hai kaun si, Na woh samajh sake na hum" and "Yeh kahan aa gaye hum, Yunhi saath saath chalte"