Source : Google photo of Lata Mangeshkar
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Synopsis: This blog is about a blessed child who won
the hearts of all with her divine voice that mesmerized everyone who had ever
heard her sing. She died yesterday leaving a void that generations will find
hard to fill. The whole country mourns but she will never die.
She was a child born with a gift but no one knew, not even
her proud parents to what height her gift would someday take her. Her voice
made people stop in their tracks even when she was a child of five years. She
loved to sing that made people mesmerized. Her doting father who was a musician
himself gave her all the help she needed in order to flourish and flourish she
did beyond anyone's expectations.
Her oval face and lustrous big eyes made her look lovely. Her
thick and shiny black hair reached her waist when she was a teenager but it was
her voice that drew attention of everyone. They said that she had a divine
voice that penetrated your soul and left an impression forever.
She was born on September 28, 1929 to classical singer and
theater artist Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and Shevanti in Indore, Madhya
Pradesh of India. Her father started teaching her music at an early age. By the
time she was five Lata was seen participating as an actress in plays written by
her father.
Source : Google photo of Lata as a teenager
She left her small town to take music lessons from a
maestro in Mumbai who taught her to sing in flawless Hindi that came to the
notice of the movie industry. It recognized in her a God gifted talent but felt
that her voice needed more training to reach her full potential. Those were the
early days for her in the movie industry where there was the need for a
playback singer like her.
The actors and actresses in the Mumbai movie industry
rarely sing or play any musical instrument so there was a need for someone like
her to sing. The actresses’ then lip synced the songs that were played in the
background so she was called a playback singer. She remained in the background
although she had appeared in some movies when she was young but she preferred
to sing more than anything else. Her LP records sold everywhere and later her
songs in cassettes became popular so it started to make her prosper but she was
very young and her long career in the music world had just got started.
She worked with song writers and prominent music directors
of her time and sang duets with almost all the famous male singers that only
added to her fame. She hardly ever needed to rehearse a song before recording
it because she had this unusual talent to pick up the song and sing it with
perfection that surprised her recording engineers.
In short she became a phenomenon and started to sing
in Marathi as well as Bengali that made her a sought after playback singer
everywhere. I remember her songs when I was just a child. They were played on
radio because there was no television in those days. Her patriotic songs were
played during the Independence Day and the Republic Day.
She made stars out of young and beautiful actors and
actresses in their early days by singing for them as a playback singer so they
bonded with her easily and kept that bond even when they became famous because
they never forgot who made them famous. Yet she remained a humble person who
avoided limelight. She became the invisible nightingale of India.
The government gave her the highest civilian award Bharat
Ratna meaning jewel of India. France honored her with their award for her
melodious voice and awards and recognition came her way like a
tempest. She was awarded Padma Bhusan, Padma Bibhusan and Phalke award
earlier by the Government of India. Her awards are too numerous to mention that
made her the most awarded singer of her time.
She sang for more than 80 years in her long career and sang
more than 25,000 songs for more than 2,000 Indian films that were recorded
by the highly acclaimed sound engineers of her time. The iconic singer was
known as the "Queen of Melody" and the "Nightingale of
India." She sang in New York and Albert Hall in London. She sang
everywhere that impressed the world even if they did not understand her
language. They analyzed her voice to know how she could sing like a
teenager even when she was old. They never found the answer.
The years had taken the toll on her health but not on her
voice. She sang less and less and started to fade into the background until one
day she got covid. The doctors gave her the best medical help available in
India so she struggled on for nearly a month until this morning when she
breathed her last. The whole country was in shock.
The condolences started pouring in from all over the
country and the world beyond. The President, the Prime minister and the stars
of the movie industry all sent their condolences. The Prime Minister flew in a
few hours ago to pay his last respect to the nightingale of India who sings no
more.
Her mortal body draped in the tricolor of the national flag
was given a state funeral and the nation has gone into two days of
mourning.
The priests chanted Vedic hymns while preparing for her
final rites in the Hindu tradition. Thousands of common people went past her
body to get a final look before the flames consumed her body and turned it into
ashes.
There was an unprecedented outpouring of grief at her death
that had silenced her divine voice forever but her thousands of songs remain
because she had made her place in the heart of everyone forever. India will
never forget her songbird who sang the glory of her land, the beauty of her
land and the valor of all who stand guard in the freezing cold of the Himalayas
to protect the country.
She sang - “O people of my land, fill your eyes with tears while you remember the sacrifice
our brave soldiers have made to keep us free.”
While watching her body burn, I felt a void in me that made
me think how fleeting life is that spares no one. It is how you live that
matters more than how long you have lived. The songbird lived her life well and
left behind a legacy that the others will find very hard to match.
This video will bring her voice to you where she sang in
the praise of all who have sacrificed their lives for the country. It will
bring tears to your eyes when you understand the words. An era has ended and a
national icon has taken her rightful place in the hallowed company of the
greats who have made a difference in the lives of all.
Source : U tube video of Lata Mangeshkar
I will miss Lata Mangeshkar. She will now take her place in
the galaxy of stars in the Universe and twinkle there forever.
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