Remembering the legend

I was very young then, thus I could not realise that I was meeting the great singing legend Manna Dey. But ever since I saw my photo with him, I had a dream to meet him again. I always believed that this dream was going to be true as he used to frequently perform in Dubai.

I often listened to his beautiful songs on radio and Internet. I was very surprised when I learnt that, besides Hindi, he had sung songs in many other languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and Assamese.

He had sung songs of different genre like qawwali, romantic, comedy, sad and patriotic. His hit Qawwali Ae meri zohra jabeen from the film Waqt is still remembered. His romantic numbers like Pyaar hua ikraar hua, Laga chunari mein daag, Yeh raat bheegi bheegi are evergreen songs.

His thought-provoking and patriotic songs like Ae mere pyare watan, Zindagi kaisi hai paheli are simply wonderful. And his comedy songs like Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo, Ek chatur naar karke singar, make people laugh even today.

But I was shocked when I got the news that “the king of melody Manna Dey” was no more. I could not believe. It was difficult to realise that my dream to meet him again was shattered.

Although he is no more among us, he will remain immortal in my heart.

Published in The Gulf Today on October 26, 2013)