Pankaj Udhas leaves the whole nation Udhas (saddened)

I first closely heard Pankaj Udhas when a friend of mine preferred to have his daily poison, with ghazals by Pankaj Udhas playing on his cassette player in the background on low volume. Ghazals like sharab cheez hi aisi hai and thodi thodi piya karo had a mesmerising effect on the music lover in me.

Came my marriage and my wedding video has a famous scene in which my bride enters the stage with Udhas’s timeless ditty, “ Chaandi jaisa Ram hai tera sone jaise baal” playing in the background. In that shot, clearly overwhelmed by the entry of my beautiful bride, I could be seen wiping sweat from my forehead, a frame that immortalised both – my beautiful bride and Pankaj Udhas’s melody!

Chitthi aayee hai caught the nation’s fancy that was to later emerge as a country with maximum number of emigrants and non residents. There’s not an occasion when the non residents or their Indian based nears and dears have not shed a tear whenever this timeless number has been played on any such gathering or occasion.

Such was the power of this sweet mellifluous voice that it held on to its position and fan base amidst the great popularity of other singers like Ghulam Ali, Jagjeet Singh, Anup Jalota etc. And an occasional Bollywood number that Pankaj lent his voice to acquired classic status.

His appearances and concerts had become rarer, but his untimely death certainly caught all his fans and music fraternity by surprise, plunging everyone in throes of deep sorrow. Coming from a family that also gave us talented Manhar and Nirmal, Pankaj attained the heights that only a handful of singers can claim to have reached and his wide repertoire of songs and ghazals will always keep his silken voice booming !