THE NIGHTINGALE IS ACTIVE AND FULL OF LIFE AT NINETY !

Ali Peter John

If anyone has any doubts about how Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar must be keeping at ninety, I have the great pleasure of letting them know that she is as active as she used to be ,with the only difference being that she doesn’t move out of her house in Prabhu Kunj and is staying home and is very safe. And the good news is that she is very much in touch with music and all the latest developments in the “world “to which she has dedicated her whole life. The only big change is that she is not recording any song for films .

I am twenty years younger than her .I know very little or nothing about modern apps like Facebook and Twitter, but the”Devi” is very active with both the apps. Only this morning , I heard her talking about the Maharasthrian festival of “Aashadi Ekadashi “.It was a video on Youtube with her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar talking about her and the festival and then introducing one of his own best compositions for a song in praise of Lord Vitthal in an “abhang “originally written by Sant Gyaneshwar and then as if like an apparition,the”Devi” starts singing the “abhang “which starts with the words, “Mogara Phulala”and she is seen singing before the image of Lord Vitthal decorated with thousands of mogara followers. I am not sure about when the video was made ,but I would love to believe that it was made only recently. The”Devi ” looked bright and fresh and sat on the floor before the deity in her favourite white saari with a “bhagwa”border and with her favourite plaits flowing down to her waist….

These days I have been spending most of my time with my mobile and watching it like I have never watched anything before. What can I or anyone else do in these horrible times which we have been forced to live in by a worm and politicians who are worse than the worm ?

And if there is one time when the smile
I had forgotten comes back to my face ,it is when I listen to some old songs sung by the “Devi “and some songs she has sung at different shows and have been caught live years ago…

And the “Devi” has been very active on Facebook and Twitter when she has to remember people who have been close to her and are now in some other world which even god doesn’t know where. In recent times, she has emotionally remembered Rishi Kapoor who she had carried in her arms once ,music director Laxmikant (of the Laxmikant- Pyarelal duo),who was with Pyarelal the small-time musicians he she had encouraged to grow into leading music composer,the lyricist Yogesh whose songs in films like “Chhoti Si Baat” and she had made immortal and R.D.Burman who she remembered with all her love for him as a composer and as a human being and she just couldn’t miss remembering her best contemporaries like Hemant Kumar and her Madan Bhaiya (the renowned composer Madan Mohan)for whom she has sung some of the most
melodious songs.

Time has always been kind to her because even time like God and man are all grateful to the little woman in white who is a blessing to this world and the many other worlds beyond this world.