It was said that while there are seven notes in Indian music – sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni – there should be two more added – la and ta!! It is a compliment, of course, to Lata Mangeshkar – the “nightingale” of India – who’s universally known as just “Lata”. She passed away yesterday, but in doing so, she brought together the entire subcontinent – where relations are always testy – as never before.
For the 1.3 billion Indians, PM Modi, who shared his birthday with Lata, tweeted, “The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people.”
For the 200 million of Pakistan, came PM Imran Khan – “With the death of Lata Mangeshkar, the subcontinent has lost one of the truly great singers the world has known. Listening to her songs has given so much pleasure to so many people all over the world.” For Bangladesh’s 165 million citizens, PM Sheikh Hasina said, “Mangeshkar will remain alive forever in the hearts of the people in the region, through her work. A great void has been created in the subcontinent’s musical arena with the demise of the ‘Sur Samraggi (empress of music)’.”
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a tweet, said for his 22 millions, “Rest In Peace Nightingale of #India, #LataMangeshkar. Thank you for the decades of entertainment that transcended.” Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari said it for her 29 million, “I am saddened by the news of the demise of famous Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar, who has also lent her melodious voice to many Nepalese songs.”
And that’s the point – while Lata was from Maharashtra and her native language was Marathi – for the 30,000 songs she crooned, she did so in dozens of languages!! While there was no institution to summarise the sentiments of the 30-million strong Indians of their diasporas, their flags were also figuratively at half-mast.
But your Eyewitness wasn’t just a lover of Lata’s songs; like him, she was a cricket “tragic” who doted on the game. She was particularly fond of fellow Maharastrian and Mumbaian Sachin Tendulkar, who called her “Mom” – in Marathi, of course!! Now, Lata was 92, and while everyone knew she had to go sometime, it’s a reminder of the virulence of COVID 19 that she was one of its 5.73 million victims worldwide.
But Lata has played her innings, and what an innings it has been. She leaves a legacy in music that will continue forever.
Her songs from the 1940s are still sung by children 73 years later.
…and changing racism
Without comment, your Eyewitness publishes the changing definitions of “racism” by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), what has fought against the scourge for decades. Originally, they said, racism is “the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another”, or that “a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.”
In 2020, following months of Black Lives Matter demonstrations, it quietly redefined the term in what appeared to be a response to the movement to mean “the marginalisation and/or oppression of people of colour based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.” But last Wednesday, following Whoopi Goldbergs claim that the Holocaust wasn’t due to racism, (for which she later apologised) the ADL came out with a new “interim” definition: “racism is when individuals or institutions show more favourable evaluation or treatment of an individual or group based on race or ethnicity.”
So what about Guyana, where the PNC unilaterally fired 7,000 mostly Indian Guyanese sugar workers?
…appointments
So, the AFC complained when a contract of one of its supporters for managing the EITI wasn’t renewed. Did they think this position was a tenured one – like with university professors?
Well, he’s being replaced by a former university professor.
