India misplaced her nightingale and probably probably the most esteemed, cherished and revered singing legend throughout generations, Lata Mangeshkar, on Sunday. She impressed lots of of musicians in India and all world wide and one such artiste is Anuradha Paudwal.
Paudwal, 67, fondly remembers Mangeshkar and shares with indianexpress.com how her first assembly with the legendary singer modified her life. She recollects, “I met her for the first time when I was nine years old. When I heard her voice for the first time, that became my life. While I have not been able to interact with her very often, in the few times that I have met her, she has always been there with me through her music only.”
Paudwal describes Mangeshkar as Saraswati, the Goddess of studying, saying she has impressed generations of musicians to take up music and healed a number of hearts together with her voice. She says, “I feel blessed to have been born in the age of Lata Mangeshkar. We hear that Tansen ji was there, but we never heard his voice. Whereas we were born listening to Lata Didi’s melodious voice. She is Saakshaat Saraswati (the embodiment of Goddess Saraswati herself) and we have been blessed to live in the age of her voice. She is a vibhooti and was no ordinary person. She was God sent, her voice has healed hearts, and the best thing that could have happened to humanity.”
Remembering considered one of Mangeshkar’s most memorable songs, Naam ghum jayega, Paudwal says, “It is her song only, ‘Naam ghum jayegaa, chehra ye badal jayegaa, meri avaaz hee, pehchaan hai ghar yaad rahe…’. Just like that, her swar (chord) is her identity and she has filled our hearts with her voice and her love for music. And while we will always have that void because physically she is gone, her voice will always stay on… One can age and their bodies can go but that swar will never go, it will keep reminding our hearts forever, for generations to come.”
Paudwal additionally feels Lata Mangeshkar can by no means be disassociated from Indian music. She says, “She has become the part of our DNA. She is in the DNA of Indian music, our culture, she is part of our life, our identity as a nation. What she is, she is, she is way beyond words and this world.”
“She came to this world to shower her swar, and that swar is her identity, and nobody can take that away from us. No one can ever say that her voice has gone silent, because khamosh hone wali yeh awaaz hai nahi (It is not a voice that can go silent),” provides Anuradha, who has an extended music profession spanning over 4 a long time.
“She has gone and I’ll not say that she has left behind a legacy with her music. She has sung so many songs, her contribution to the world of music is imperative and it will suffice generations to come, it will keep music lovers and aspirants inspired. Unki Saraswati ki awaaz hai (her voice is that of Saraswati’s), and that’s what we have to celebrate today and forever,” she concludes.
