The moment I heard it, I became thoughtless and still. All of us knew this news was going to appear one day, but no one of us was ready for it. There will be millions of words written, tears shed, songs sung and words spoken about her today. The intensity of my emotions passed on from inside me on this page holding the hand of the ‘inspiration’ that I had with me since the day I began to understand ‘music’. I understand what ‘loss-of-words’ means in a very different way today.

The world will never be the same again. We live in a different world starting today. A world which became lighter, because the breaths of a legendary human, who’s voice made the lives of a million people worthwhile, does not exist anymore. I am not going to write about how remarkable she was or how many songs she sang. I know words can never be enough to express these things. The sentiments that millions of Indians are experiencing today are proof of the existence of her voice in their hearts. She is immortal through her music. We all feel that we have lost a family member today. Her voice was a mother/father/sister/brother/spouse for each one of us at some point in our lives. Her voice is like a pat on the back when you are feeling low, or a warm hug when you feel like nothing is working out or like a hand that pulls you out from a deep pit.

92 years of her existence of this planet was has been an era of music which will be hard to experience again. I am so blessed to have seen/experienced a part of that. Though she obviously lives amongst us through her music, the fact that she isn’t physically here, makes this world a totally different place. There is a missing piece of puzzle and the picture will always feel incomplete.

Till the time I regain my emotional strength to sing something by her again, sharing my past performances which define Lata Didi for me !

Thank you for choosing to live amongst us, Lata didi! You will be missed !