Ashtalakshmi and the Queen of Melody: A bond beyond frontiers

Swaswati Borkataki

(borkatakiswaswati@gmail.com)

At a coffee shop here in Guwahati, my eardrums vibrated with the tunes of 'Lag Jaa Gale', arguably one of the finest Bollywood songs ever made, buttressed by the voice of Lata Mangeshkar from the movie Woh kaun thi? (1964). As I finished my cup of coffee and drove back home, I played the song many times over. While the song has always been a favourite, the temptation to listen to it was even more as the singer passed away at 92 on the 6th of February 2022 in Mumbai, as my mind wandered from the song to the singer and how one person through her soulful voice created a 'revolution', with her voice spreading everywhere like perfume, to every nook and corner of India and the world, and also her connection with the Northeast.

While there has always been a tendency to brand the Northeast as the 'other' and different from mainland India, Lata Mangeshkar has been as connected with this part of the subcontinent as any other.

While her association with the music maestro of Assam, Dr Bhupen Hazarika is known to many, it is a matter of pride and honour that she lend her voice to Junakore Rati as early as 1956, and a number of other beautiful Assamese songs in her peculiar elegance. As the Chief Minister of Assam said that Lata ji's voice will forever flow in the minds of the people of Assam like Borluit (the mighty Brahmaputra), leaders from across the Northeast have come forward to offer their condolences and also have shared the connection each of them and their state have with the Nightingale of India.

Biplab Deb, the Chief Minister of Tripura while announcing that the Tripura cabinet will be discussing the possibility of instituting an award in Lata Mangeshkar's memory, he also shared his own childhood memories of listening to SD Burman, RD Burman, Lata Didi and Kishore Kumar, the Burman duo being natives of Tripura. Therefore, Tripura has a host of memories and an emotional connection with Lata ji through the Burman duo and the immortal music they created.

Likewise, the Governor and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Brig (Retd) Dr BD Mishra and Pema Khandu have remembered the famous song Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo that the late singer sang to pay homage to the soldiers who lost their lives during the 1962 Indo-China War and also mentioned that Lata Mangeshkar's demise is a loss to the entire nation, cutting across all boundaries of race, religion, culture, ethnicity, etc.

Meghalaya too, which is otherwise known to prefer Western music, Shillong being the 'Rock Capital of India, has mourned the death of the legendary singer, with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma tweeting, 'Your legacy lives on Lata ji' while remembering how his father, PA Sangma when he was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, invited Mangeshkar to sing Sare Jahan se Accha.

The singer undoubtedly has left behind a legacy of more than ten thousand songs in various languages to her credit and tens of thousands of Indians mourning her death and remembering her across different corners of the country. Here, it may be mentioned that Lata Ji, in death, as in life has again defied the constructed and conditioned 'otherness' of the Northeast, as she was celebrated during her lifetime, with all the states of the north-eastern part of India having some connection or the other with the legend, and in her death, all the states of the Northeast have come forward to express their heartfelt condolences and prayers for her departed soul. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi often uses the term 'Ashtalakshmi' to imply the north-eastern states, the connection of these eight states with Lata Mangeshkar cannot be denied, and her music will be heard and be reverberated near the banks of the Teesta and the Brahmaputra, like the Ganga and the Yamuna, and she will be as dearly missed in the localities of Guwahati, Imphal and Itanagar as in Mumbai, Varanasi and Delhi.

While perhaps no one will ever be able to see her perform live with her magical voice or listen to her interviews, her songs have immortalized her and she will live on in the memories and hearts of generations of Indians across the Globe.