As a young girl I wept when she sang a sad song and danced for joy when her voice was lyrical and happy. Such was the aura of her voice that beside the gamut of emotions that raged through me, it fittingly ran the scale, from a contralto, to a bell clear soprano. Having had the opportunity to hear her sing at concert and better still having met her in person, I am as much in awe and reverence of her voice and the mercurial range of it as I was when young. Saturday night was the culmination of a dream come true, for a core group of her family and friends that took her legendary voice, and her brand name, to the realms of a worldwide audience, through a perfume named after the voice of the nightingale of India Lata.After the mandatory speeches, a short audio visual of Lata's songs, as made immemorable through the beauty of the reigning queens of cinema, touched me to the quick and I had to brush a tear off my cheek. How can one control one's emotions when you see a bevy of talented actresses, from the painedbeauty of Nargis, to the sensuality of Rekha, the innocence of Jaya, the simplicity of Nargis, the vivacity of Madhuri, the depth of Waheeda all flicker powerfully, to light up the farthest reaches of our senses through the magic of the voice of Lataji such varied emotions all conveyed through song, each as clear and distinct as the actress herself yet immortalised for over half a century by "the voice", the one and only, Lata Mangeshkar.I remember the first time I met her, I was so surprised at how small and fragile she looked. I was overcome and wanted to hug her like a long lost aunt or sister. It was soon apparent that behind her humility and shyness lay a lifetime of sacrifice and pain, which she can easily evoke through song. The black and white pictures of the young Lataji which flashed on screen had an extremely vulnerable look, the expression in her eyes were of pain yet innocent was writ large over her face. The sheer determination and courage of Lataji as a young girl, having to fend for heryoung family upon the death of her beloved father is film folklore. The truth though was that she had to work very, very, hard, practising for days on end, to train what one critic called "a weak voice", into the soul stirring, edifying, age-defying voice of the millennium, that it is today.Lataji in her lifetime has seen the vagaries of life but to be able to keep an aura of innocence and humility though one is miles ahead in the race, makes her one of God's chosen few. This thread of humility runs in the family for sure and speaks of a fine cultured upbringing as witnessed by me, as I walked up to a person in my living room who had come to personally invite me to the launch of the perfume, only to find to my surprise that it was Adinath Mangeshkar - Lataji's nephew, who was standing just inside the door with the invite in hand. I warmly welcomed him in and was touched that he'd come personally. My other guests for the evening, Shekhar Gupta, Venkat Rao, my son Krish, and I were enthralled by his littleanecdotes on Lataji. I was so inspired that I admit to a brain wave which awaits a translation to reality in the millennium. Adinath struck me as a warm sincere, enterprising young man devoted to his aunt Lataji and his family. When I reached the Leela Ballroom, the venue of the event, Adinath personally escorted me to a front vantage point seat by Mr and Ms Yash Chopra. The Lata: Eau de Parfum has strong sandalwood overtones to it and it took Mr Deepak Kanegaonkar over nine months to get it right with his French team and SFA. When five of the reigning queens of cinema from Vyjanthimala Bali, Saira Banu, Hema Malini, Sridevi and Preity Zinta went up to join Lata launch the inverted coconut flacon everyone cheered and clapped. Dilip Kumar gave a short but touching speech and Lataji endearingly touched his feet. It was a fitting finale when Tom Alter auctioned the first bottle of the perfume Lata which was snapped up at Rs three lakh-plus by Bharat Shah (the diamond Czar).The Shehnaz Hussain chain is todistribute the product, so folks to add to your collection of perfumes you have Lata which captures the spirit of Lata's immortality, as a fitting tribute to her birthday. The song `Rahe na rahe hum' encapsulates the thought of the perfume, vying with Lataji's voice to stay in our memories and thoughts forever as a voice filled with the fragrance of life and love.
