Yet Another Tribute to Lata
The last few days have seen an avalanche of tributes to Lata Mangeshkar on social media. All kinds of medleys of her songs from more than seven decades are flowing rhythmically on various channels. Despite her benchmark voice in the industry, her long dominance was something that always irked me, but then she was the one-take wonder before the digital age and her emotive singing made actors long for her voice. I often pondered, how in a country of billions where everyone is at least a bathroom singer, the nightingale could rule for so long. Very quickly, I realised that the time was not right for this kind of thinking. I started to look for reasons to pay a tribute and finally, the angel came to my rescue, “Hey, weren’t you born in the era of Antakshari and Binaca Geetmala”? Didn’t I save you on numerous occasions? Indeed, you did and thanks to your impeccable voice and rendition of ragas in conjunction with the poetic lyrics the songs stuck in our head, surely you got me out of a sticky situation many times. Even my 2-year-old son born in Australia had picked up a liking for your. Pakeezah's song “Inhi logo ne” – forgive him for altering the lyrics, he loved to sing. “Ini-nabooni”. There must have been something mystical about your singing indeed!!
I started to scratch my head and think whether there would be another human being whose work would have so much association in my brain. The computer scientist in me was becoming agitated – shall I produce my own medley? Well, I got dissuaded with the thought that if I used a random algorithm to pick up a playlist of her songs – more than 30 thousand songs, and some suggest 50k, would mine be better than most of the playlists? My enthusiasm faded rapidly. Have I dissuaded you, maybe or maybe not, there are many individual memories associated with the beautiful songs for each of us to fill many playlists.
“Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hain” – My voice is my signature. And she finally signed off to join the celestial bodies, shining forever. – Sanjay Jha