For the love of Lata didi
What makes this book, Aisa Kahan Se Laoon, on the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, unique is that the author is not only a writer or just a fan, but an eminent Dogri poetess.
Padma Sachdev counts the Melody Queen as a friend, close to her heart.
So, her book on Lata, which was launched at the Sahitya Akademi Auditorium recently by Rajya Sabha MP, Dr Karan Singh, comes packed with memories, anecdotes and interviews with Lata.
Padma recalls her first encounter with didi (she doesn’t like to call her Lata) in 1961 in Mumbai. “I caught a glimpse of her at her home and I was mesmerised. She wore a very simple sari, and came across as a woman of few words,” she said. “Then our interactions became frequent, and I would meet her regularly,” she said.
She shares how she managed to pursue Lata to sing in her mother tongue. “I always wanted didi to sing in Dogri. Once she heard me sing a Dogri song, Tu Mala Tu to her little nephew. She came up to me, and said that she really enjoyed this song and would like to give it her voice. She ended up singing three more,” says the ambassador of Dogri, adding, “If we don’t talk in our native languages, these languages will die.”
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