With an extremely successful career, the nightingale of India has given us some classic songs to cherish. She has won millions of hearts in her singing career, but can you guess who is her biggest fan?
Meet Meerut-born Gaurav Sharma who has gone to lengths that far to surpass a regular fan. He has written every book on her, even by Pakistani and Australian writers, all the songs she sang and has even set up six ‘Lata Vatikas’ in schools where he has planted thousands of trees in honour.
And more than that, he has also chosen to stay single because he claims he has “no space for another woman in his life.” He was just six-years-old in 1988 when he first heard the voice of the woman he would dedicate his life to. The song was ‘Radha Na Bole’ from 1955 movie Azaad that had him enchanted.
“My grandmother would often hum that tune. She told me about Lataji’s struggles and gave me a picture of her. She said ‘Khoj Karni Hai To Inki Khoj Karo ‘(If you have to find something, find her) and there was no turning back for me,” Sharma told the Times Of India at his Phoolbagh Colony home.
The house is also full with Lataji’s pictures, a large frame of her hangs from the drawing room wall while the cupboards are full of news clippings. While Sharma is not much of a singer but his mornings start with Lataji’s bhajans and he fondly calls her ‘didi’.
“Lataji left the security of home to earn for her family. Even when she had to go hungry for days, she made a name for herself in the film industry,” he said. Sharma teaches disabled kids and whenever he needs inspiration, he borrows some from her struggle story.
Times Of India
Sharma also told TOI, what happened when he met her for the first time, “When I saw her in person, I cried for 10 minutes. I spent about four hours with her. She gave me signed portraits of hers.”
But I think all of this was not enough for him, he wants to propose a museum dedicated to the Queen of Melody. “PM Modi himself is a fan of didi and I will write to him to take all my collections for a museum in her honour. That’s all I want now.”