After Lata Mangeshkar was admitted to the ICU, everyone knew that she would no longer be with us. But the attachment is such that no one is ready to accept it. Even at the age of 92, her dedication towards singing only shows that Lata ji must have been sad to leave this world more than her fans are saddened by her passing. And why not? Whose film music career has been more than half a century long and who has sung more than 30 thousand songs in 36 Indian languages, how can anyone else leave this world and like it?
Today Lata Mangeshkar ji is definitely not among us, but her legacy is a priceless heritage of the country. Born on 28 September 1929 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Lata Mangeshkar always loved to lead a simple life. She was the eldest of five siblings.
When Lata Mangeshkar was asked a question about why do you wear a white saree? So in response to this, he said, ‘I like this white since childhood. Even when I was young, I used to wear ghagra choli, she also used to wear white. But there was a time in the middle that I started wearing color sarees and I used to wear sarees of every color. But after a year or two, sitting like this, I thought that there is no end to the fact that today I like pink, tomorrow it is yellow and the next day blue. And there is no end to it, so I decided in one day that from today I will not wear anything but white.
You can also guess the simplicity of Lata ji and her attachment to white color from the fact that she often used to wear white colored flowers in her hair. However, this humble and simple life of his also weighed heavily on him many times.
Read also: From Filmfare to Bharat Ratna, Lata Mangeshkar’s journey of awards
When Lata ji was starting her career, once music director GM Durrani i.e. Ghulam Mustafa Durrani taunted Lata Mangeshkar’s white clothes and said, ‘Lata why don’t you wear colored clothes? Do you come wearing a white sheet?’ After this incident, Lata ji decided to never work with GM Durrani. At that time, this decision of Lata ji was quite risky. Because GM Durrani was a big singer of that time. And Lata ji was just starting her career. But still Lata ji stood firm on her decision. And gave thousands of such songs which even today the world is sitting on its chest.
For this contribution of Lata ji to music, she was honored with Padma Bhushan in 1969, Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989, Padma Vibhushan in 1999 and Bharat Ratna in 2001.
He was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after being infected with COVID in early January this year. But after the situation improved, she was in the ICU for several weeks, where she died at 8:12 am at the age of 92.
Read also: When Lata Mangeshkar broke all relation with younger sister Asha Bhosle