Jagjit Singh remembered...

Growing up as a teenager in the 90's came with its own challenges... With crazy hairdo (remember Sanju baba et al in Saajan?), baggies pant (Aamir Khan in Joh Jeeta...) and crazy Hawaiian colourful shirts ( a la Govinda style); it was difficult to explain "main aisa kyon hun??" and why someone is unable to comply with such a 'jhakaaas' fashion statement..

On the music front also any song worth its salt was in 'Jhankaar beats' or -else- face- the 'music'-from-the audience kind of a predicament.... 

During such an era, being a teenager and trying to find 'sanity' in doing something 'normal' was definitely a tall order... During such a tumultuous time I was introduced to the world of Gazals and Jagjit Singh... It happened quite unbeknownst to me... It was a birthday of a classmate and we were debating on the gift to be given to him when somebody hit upon the idea of gifting him a cassette of Jagjit Singh's gazal... I remember hearing the deep and melodious voice of the maestro ringing out in the small music shop as the shopkeeper test run it for us post purchase.. Hearing Jagjit singh for me was like being transported to an altogether different world... That was the day when I really fell in love with the man and his music...

Growing up was so much fun with the soothing gazals of Jagjit Singh and hearing him sing I felt as if eleveted to a spiritual plain... His voice, the melody, the sher-o-shayari and the intermittent mix of his own witticism was what made his gazals as soemthign to die for... The man had a deep understanding of the couplets and the complex urdu/persian shayari of masters like Ghalib and Mir.... While in bewteen a gazal, he will pause and translate the complex part with simple translation and then too mix it up with his own brand of humour!

For me the high point of his career was when he sang for the telly series on Mirza Ghalib... As I listened spell bound to one maestro's rendition of another master... Jagjit Singh cast a spell on all of us by immortalising the verses of Mirza ghalib starting from "Aah ko chaahie ek umr asar hone tak, Hazaron Khwaise aisi, woh firaaq aur woh visaal kahan, ...." as we were transporetd to an era unbeknowest to us.. To the by lanes of Purani Dilli  where a pauper lived and died but who left a rich legacy of verses and poetry...Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib has never been the topic of as much discussion and debate or made as famous as after Jagjit Singh's immortal rendition of him...

I had the good privilege to listen to him live in Chennai around 2006-07.... All of us poured in almost late by half an hour and as we settled down still there was a large crowd flowing which did so till the 1st 1 hour... But not a single soul stirred in the hall as they sat spell bound to the magic spell caste by the maestro himself as he dished out a veritable fare of delectable gazals from his rich repertory and kept the audience mesmerised... It was almost 3 hours in to the show and we had lost track of time and space as Jagjit Singh's rich and sonorous voice floated around and up the auditorium... His final rendition of " Kal Chauduvi ki raat thi" brohgt the entire house down as everybody were on their fit clapping as the maestro smiled mischievously and encouraged them to clap on...

Jagjit Singh's death is a great loss to good and uncompromising music. Jagjit belonged to an era which believed in creating music and singing as if you are one with the Creator Himself and also acted as a mean for connecting Him with the audience... As an artist he believed in giving his all to the work that he did and that was to bring solace and act as a balm to strife stricken hearts..

As he so aptly sang the couplet by Ghalib:

"rago.n me.n dau.Date phirane ke ham nahii.n qaayal
jab aa.Nkh hii se na Tapakaa to phir lahuu kyaa hai?"

(We do not believe in only running through the veins,
When it does not drip through the eye, then is it blood at all?)

 So was also practiced by the maestro who believed in giving his all in enthralling and transporting his audience on a journey of ecstasy and spirituality.