Alvida, Mehdi Hassan Saheb !

In  the eighties ,when I was posted in a remote area of the state of Himachal Pradesh, the only source of entertainment  and socializing  was the periodic get-togethers   among  officers and  a few local people , who relished the company  and reciprocated the hospitality. One of the local people was O.P, a man of taste and a fairly good singer. Naturally, all would coax him into singing a song or two to enliven the atmosphere . His pet piece of singing was, Mehdi Hassan’s  “Duniya kisi ke pyar mein  phoolon se kam nahin…..” which even  in his voice held us spell bound. . Later  I   bought an audio cassette  of Ghazals rendered by Mehdi Hassan , which included the above ghazal also. Gradually I became an  ardent fan of the maestro  and learnt the lyrics of many well known ghazals, like- Patta Patta   Boota Boota  Haal Hamara Jaane Hai  , Yeh Dhuan Kahan se Uthta Hai , Gulon Mein Rang Bhare, Muhabbat Karne wale Kam Na Honge… , Ranjish hi sahi, Zindagi mein to sabhi pyaar kiya karte hain , and many others. The death of the maestro has caused a void in the music world. Cutting across borders, his was the singing voice of the subcontinent , where  people loved him, adored him  and  would always wait to listen to his  inimitable voice.

R I P   Mehdi Saheb, you were the real  Shehanshah of Ghazals !