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J – ‘JAGJIT SINGH’
This is my trip down memory lane, where I reminiscence about what
the uncrowned ‘Ghazal King’ meant to me as a heartfelt tribute to the
legend.
Chaahe kuchh bhi ho sawaalaat na karna unse,
Mere bare mein koi baat na karna unse
Baat niklegi toh phir door talak jayegi…
‘Jagjit Singh’ A voice that soothed me when I was agitated, and I did
not even know why. The phenomenon that brought ghazals from the
high echelons of mushairas to the common man and made it not just
accessible, but also palatable for him. He met a deeply felt need of
the new generation to connect with the roots, which had not been
explored by other ghazal luminaries. I may be not more than 4 years
old when I first heard late Jagjit Singh’s voice. The ghazal king came
in my life very early. While my playmates and other friends took to
rhymes and nursery poems, for me it was sheer Urdu poems sung by
Jagjit Singh. The reason I came in contact so early with the singer,
was because of my father and his friends who got introduced to his
music while as students in Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU, Delhi).
Those were the days of cassettes and my father and the
neighbourhood uncles carried with them all the music they had
collected since the days when Jagjit Singh started his music career.
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