When Lata Mangeshkar helped BCCI in 1983 and handed the best gift to India's World Cup champions!

Music lost its seven notes as 'The Nightingale',  singer Lata Mangeshkar, a wave of the world, leaving behind her legacy. She lost her battle with COVID-19 and passed away at the age of 92 last year. The news of Nightingale's demise had turned into a black day for not only Indian Classical Music lovers but whole nation gelt the irreplaceable loss.

 

 

Her music touched generations of folk. She was a free musical spirit. She was one of the greatest gems that the music industry was blessed with. In 1949, with a piece of a romantic song composed by Khechand Prakash, she made her entry into music as an Indian and made the world fall for her voice after getting her first break. It was the year when the Indian music industry got its Nightingale. Since then, she never looked back and sung over 30 thousand plus sone various languages in her spaning 7 decades of the carrier. She was indeed one of the greatest and most influential singers in India.

 

Apart from her bond with the seven notes of music, the Nightingale of India also shared a close bond with sports. Just like any other Indian, the melody queen and Bharat Ratna recipient was also a huge fan of cricket. Lata Mangeshkar was a regular visitor at the CCI Stadium and later at the Wankhede Stadium in the 70s and 80s. She was very close to all the Mumbai cricketers, like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Sachin Tendulkar. Even Master Blaster Tendulkar considered her a mother figure. He frequently stated that he saw "Maa Saraswati" in Lata Mangeshkar.

 

 

She always expressed her love for the game, on several occasions through tweets about the Indian cricket team's victories. One such occasion was in 1983. It was the year when the Kapil Dev-led Indian cricket team made India and us proud by clinching the 1983 World Cup by beating West Indies in the finals of the World Cup. At that time, the Board of Control for Cricket in India witnessed to felicitate and honour the team. However, unlike now, the BCCI was not rich and was not flush with funds in those days.

 

 

 

It was then that BCCI President and national selector, Samar Singh and Harsh Vardhan, former Union Minister N.K.P. Salve, who was President of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) from 1982-85, came up with a brilliant idea. Following that, they turned to Melody Queen and asked for her help. They asked Mangeshkar to do a musical programme in Delhi to raise money for the purpose. Without even thinking for a second, she happily agreed to do a musical programme without taking a single penny.

 

Just as decided, Lata Didi went to Delhi on August 17th and did a special show. The concert's highlight was a special song composed by Pandit Hridyanath Mangeshkar, Lata's composer brother. The song --Bharat Vishwa Vijeta-- saw the cricketers also sing along on the stage. She helped to raise a substantial amount that enabled the BCCI to reward each player of the winning team with Rs 1 lakh which was not a petty amount in those days.

 

From that day, as a mark of respect, the BCCI, till her death, kept two complimentary VIP tickets allocated at any Indian stadium for her, where India played an international match.

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