Lata Mangeshkar— Voice of Real India

With the death of India’s Nightingale—Lata Mangeshkar—the country has lost a person who represented Indian music globally. She had carved out a unique place for herself for the recognition of which she was also conferred with the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in the country. With her death, there is vacuum in the field, in the hearts of her listeners, which can never be filled.
Through music, Lata Ji also played her role in the unification of the country which was noted and felt by her audience which never seized to exist. Despite tremendous changes in the world of music, Lata Ji had her fan base intact; rather every single person has felt mesmerized by her music that had a divine attraction in it.
One peculiar thing about her voice is that despite age, one could hardly notice the factor of ageing in her voice because even in her 80s she kept singing and bringing her audience to a different world brimming with magical feelings.
The song which she sang after the Indo-China war—Ae Mere WatanKe Logo—was iconic and has remained so despite several decades. It was the song that brought tears to the eyes of the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and invigorated a sense of patriotism among people.
Even on her death, she somehow presented the signs of unification; unity in diversity which happened after star Shahrukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan reached her last resting place to offer their prayers. What happened there is something that represents India; is the real identity of India.
Lata Ji’s death is no matter a loss of institutions, a loss of identity; but a beautiful takeaway on the occasion of her death has been the visualization of the real India that lives in the hearts and minds of the people of India, with SRK and her wife being an example.