Some thoughts literally pierce the heart, stab the mind and the hurt, the pain stays, lives on and comes back with the same intensity, the same ferocity every time those thoughts come close, threaten to pierce, to stab again. Something like what happens to me every time I listen to and think of Jagjit Singh, the well known ghazal singer who has become a part of my life, whose work is a part of my soul now.
Jagjit Singh was a singer who gradually grew into a major singer who appealed to any one who cared to listen to him even once. Jagjit Singh had the power to tell the truth about life like very few human beings have been able to. Jagjits experiences blended with the experiences of a number of poets, all of them armed with rich experiences of their own brought life alive to all those unfortunate beings who didnt have the time to know life, to face life face to face.
When Jagjit joined his voice with hiswife, Chita, the result was something that rarely happened when two human beings sang. Jagjit and Chitra continued singing and winning till that fateful night when the telephone rang and within minutes the voice on the other side shattered their world, destroyed it, destroyed all their reasons to find meaning in life, their reason to live. Their only son Vivek Singh had met with an accident and died. What could be more painful, more sorrowful, more killing? Especially for a father and a mother who were so very sensitive. That accident which snatched their only son from them left Chitra dumbstruck. She just stopped singing after that night Jagjit tried his best to keep his sanity, his life intact.
He lived through several agonising lives to decide that life had to be lived with all its agonies, with all its ecstasies Jeena hai to dard sehna padega he sang with a broken heart and broke every heart that had the courage to listen to him, broke them and even gave them courage. That unbearable tragedy has destroyed the man but has fortified the singer. He is a prophet today more than a singer. He is a modern day prophet who demands listening because his voice tells the truth and that is one thing (telling the truth) which is gradually going out of fashion today.
I have always looked forward to listening to Jagjit Singh who has, like I said become an inseparable part of my life. I look forward with double the enthusiasm now Jagjit Singh used to excite me once. Jagjit Singh elevates me now like very singers, very few human beings elevate me today.
His voice gives me the same feeling that Mother Teresa gave me when she first touched me, blessed me. And I care a damn for all those critics of Jagjit Singh and Mother Teresa. They are the only hope the only succour, the only Messiahs. They have the courage to convert their pain into strength for others, so that others may learn to live the one, life they are gifted with, with dignity, with determination, with devotion Jagjit Singh sings. Mother Teresa prays.
Thats the only difference but they make that big difference to this world which is growing more and more indifferent to life Indifference is becoming a cult. Jagjit and the Mother are trying their best to destroy it. We will be doing ourselves a favour if we help them.
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