"Jagjit"

I’ve been thinking for quite some time on writing a tribute to my favorite Ghazal Singer, Jagjit Singh. Well not really a tribute I can write. It is just one of those days when I listened to his deep, comforting melodies, especially the ones beautifully written by Gulzar or Kaifi Azmi, and felt glad about the few mercies that the technology has been able to endow upon us. I feel remorseful about the fact that I never got a chance to listen to him on any of his live shows, probably because I wasn’t anticipating his sudden demise at all.

It only makes me realize the importance of putting one’s intentions into actions, as the time never comes back, especially when people depart in such an unexpected way.

I will take the liberty of expressing on behalf of all his fans that all sorts of emotions run down us through his eternal music. Being a keen listener (and also having a bit of understanding) of Ghazal music, I would say that it might have been difficult otherwise to sing it exactly the way had he not felt the sadness in the words so written. Commenting on his personal life tragedies would be an offense to the legend, and I would still give all the credit to his art of really going into the profound meaning of the songs, of the poet, so it reverberates like a tangible emotion, a feeling that I can touch.

He reminds me of Dad, for no reason apparently. May be because I had a 20 year old relationship with him, from the first ever song of his, that I listened to when I was a child. I had taken it in a stride, but the voice had touched me even then, the meaning sank in later.

“Mohalle ki sabse kahani purani, who budhiya jise bachhe kehte the nani,
  Woh nani ki baaton mein pariyon ka dera, woh chehre ki jhhuriyon mein sadiyon ka phera,
  Bhulaye nahi bhool sakta hai koi, woh chhoti si raatein, woh lambi kahaani”

His every song reminds me of a moment in my own life. The youngsters today wouldn’t be able to remotely connect to him I guess, and more so because the legendary singer is not alive to be reviewed by them. I have a score of his collection, but the fact that he will never sing those songs again, is disturbing indeed.

It’s been sometime that he’s left for his heavenly journey abode, and in an eventful life, I might not get an opportunity to pen down my love for his music. Ending on a disconcerting note, with two lines of a personal favorite;

“Tu apne dil ki jawaan dhadkanon ko, gin ke bata,
  Meri tarah tera dil, beqaraar hai ke nahin”