Over Late APJ Abdul Kalam & Sachin Tendukar Whom Did Lata Mangeshkar Chose To Give Her An Award?

BY ALI PETER JOHN

For eight decades her voice has been ruling all the time and has become a part of every family, every society, every religion, every country, all the seasons, in the sky and on earth, in the wind and in the waves of the ocean and even the smallest rivers. Her voice has given solace to the world and given glory to God. She has been the voice of a little girl, a teenager in love, a woman raising her voice against the atrocities committed against her, a holy woman like Meera who can sing the bhajans in honour of her “Girdhar” better than Meera herself must have sung. She has sung in almost every major language of the country and has made the music of the language in which she sings eternal. She has sung for hundreds of films over the last seventy years and for every big film and actresses from Nargis and Nutan to Madhuri Dixit, Karishma Kapoor and Kajol. She has added her own divine touch to the lyrics written by some of the greatest poets and lyricists and almost every major and minor composer. She has been at her divine best when she has sung bhajans and geets, loris and any kind of lok and folk sangeet. She has become an icon beyond all icons of the twentieth century who can be easily called one of the greatest singers in the world and we in India are or must be more than just proud about having her as our Bharat Ratna who can compete with any of the greatest legendary singers of all time. There are times when she gives me the feeling that she is ethereal and there are times when she gives me the feeling that she is rooted to the sacred soil and soul of India. I can go on and on describing this wonder of a woman without whom life would not be complete and would not hold any meaning, she and her heavinly voice is the only power that can bring the most powerful and the most ordinary together and feel like one people, one race, the race of human beings who she has taken to heights greater than any height the world can boast of. Aur kya kya kahein aapke baare mein, Lataji, shabd thak gaye hai aapke gun gaane se, ab aur koi insaani tareeka hai hi nahi aapke baare mein aur kuch kehne ka…

The Bharat Ratna has not been as active as she was once, it is only nature taking its own course even when it came to a heavenly creation like Lata Mangeshkar. The last time she sang for a film was in Yash Chopra’s “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” because she always considered Yash as her brother and Yash could never think of making a film without having her singing the songs, he was such a great devotee of “the woman who has a gift that God has given only to one woman in the world he has created”.

During the last eight or ten years, she has only been recording some private albums and some devotional songs and has tried to give life to the poetry of some of the well-known Hindi poets. She now believes that she has done justice to the gift God has given her and has taken a voluntary decision to step back and leave the field clear for the new generation of singers.

Lataji who celebrated her eighty-ninth birthday on September 28 now spends most of her time in her own room and does all that she has missed doing because of her hectic schedules. She may not be active but she is very active keeping in touch with the latest trends in music and is not very happy with the state of affairs, but consoles herself by saying, “badalte huye zamaane se sab kuch badalna padta hai aur sangeet bhi badal rahaa hai, lekin sangeet ko itna giraana bhi nahi chaahiye kyunki sangeet ishwar ki den hai. Mujhe aaj ke sangeet se koi shikaayat nahi hai lekin meri ek praathna hai aaj ke sangeetkaaro aur gaayako se ki woh sangeet ke naam par itna shor na kare ki sangeet hi ghootke mar jaaye. Lekin sangeet ki pujaari hone ke bhaav se main itna keh sakti hoon ki sangeet zinda rahega hamesha ke liye kyunki sangeet toh ishwar ka bhi sabse pyaari cheez hai. Yeh shor sharaaba jo chal rahaa hai sangeet ke naam se, yeh bas kuch samay ka khel hai, sur vaapas aayega, sur ko aana hi padega kyunki sur bina zindagi mein hi koi sur nahi rahega”.

It was very easy to talk to the Nightingale till some years ago, but ever since she has been falling ill of and on, meeting her and talking to her is a difficult task, but she talks when she is well and in a mood to talk “only as long as people ask me sensible questions”. I have always been lucky to talk to the most heard voice in the world, she has listened to my request to sing at one of the award shows planned by me and had quoted a certain price which my company was only too willing to pay. She fulfilled my request and when I took the cheque to her, she said in her soul-soothing voice, “maine toh aapke kehne pe gaaya tha, mujhe nahi chaahiye yeh paise, aapke company ko boliye ki woh yeh paise kisi nek kaam ke liye lagaaye”. She was again kind to me when I just took a chance and asked her if she would release one of my books and without any hesitation, the Bharat Ratna said, “kaun se taareek par karna hai?” I couldn’t believe even that heavenly voice, but she persisted and said, “mere ghar ke neeche hall hai, aapke vahaa function kar sakte hai, main meri building ke society se baat kar lungi” and she kept her promise and I could release my book at her hands at Prabhu Kunj which I think is one of my major achievements in life.

The other time she moved me was during the planning of the Hridaynath Award instiuted by her brother, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The jury had decided to present her with the first award and wanted to know who she would like to receive her award from. The organisers gave her a list of three names, the late Dr. APJ Kalam, Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan and the moment she saw the list with Amitabh’s name in it, she said if his name was there, where was the need to show her the other names. The organisers gave me the responsibility of requesting Amitabh to do her the honours and Amitabh was so honoured that he changed all his programmes to make time to do what he called “mere jeevan ka sabse punya kaam”.

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