Jagjit Singh, Music and the Sea.

Evening had already come down on the beach by the time we reached. It’s not great to arrive at the sea at sun down because you lose the real glory of the rolling waves and the monstrous gray water body stretching for miles, the awe-invoking splendor of the unfathomable. In the evening the sea turns into a stranger, you don’t dare to go near it and it was also one day behind a full moon night.
Young people and children threw illuminated plastic balls into the water and the waves put them back to the shore gentle after a few tosses and turns. I thought the sea is losing its poetry because I felt nothing; no wonder, no respect, no joy or excitement. The timing was wrong, yes. Go in the early morning and you will come closer to an experience of realizing God.
The next morning the news channels announced the death of Jagjit Singh. Though the maestro was ailing for sometime, just like any other news we refuse to believe easily, it was heard to digest that the mellifluous singer was dead. I didn’t feel any sorrow, but I felt like losing a soul connection which was bearable because he had reached the twilight of his life. He was a singer whose voice held honesty and goodness in a strange combination that he immediately touched you whenever you tuned in to his song. I myself am used to humming his rendition from SATH SATH- Tumko dekha to yeh khayal aya, jindegi dhoop tum Ghana sayaa….His songs not only fell on the ear like honey but they touched somewhere very deep inside. The lyrics of almost all his songs were unmatchable and the lines had truths lying scattered here and there, reminding one of the pains and suffering that streak human existence. His eyes had the honesty of a true man, a simple, uncomplicated soul who seemed to carry on his rendering of life’s journey, love, separation, heartbreak, disappointment, hope, mild sarcasm, an invitation to come and join the brigade of optimists and a thousand of other emotions and stirrings. In his death, one more connection broke.
That night, two women lay in bed in adark room listening to unforgettable songs, lost in their own thoughts. The music was soul stirring and the tears that ran down the faces were different. One’s heart cried for the lost love of her roots, the other for the lost love of a soul-mate. The night grew older and older, the music persisted until they fell asleep.