Blessed by Jagjit Singh: The Echo That Stayed
In an earlier blog (reference at the end), I had written about the Jagjit Singh show in which I was to assume the role of narrator. The evening, held on 5th April in Lucknow, met with an exceptionally warm response and, even at the cost of sounding a touch pretentious, I must admit to a quiet sense of being blessed, rather a novice to theatre, to have left some small imprint upon the performing arts canvas. Khwaateen o hazraat (ladies and gentlemen), if the prelude to an evening is anticipation, then what follows a truly lived mehfil (gathering) is something far more elusive, almost ineffable. One returns not merely with memories, but with a lingering kaifiyat (state of being), as though some unseen mehmaan (guest) has visited the soul and quietly taken residence there. As the show Kāġhaz Ki Kashti unfolded in Lucknow, it felt as if that mehmaan was none other than Jagjit Singh himself, his rooh (spirit) gently presiding over every sur (note), every lafz (word), every thehra...