Jagjit Singh, the man who brought ghazals to our living rooms

On Jagjit Singh’s birth anniversary today, here are a few lesser known anecdotes from the ghazal maestro’s life and times

If there is one man who can be credited for bringing the 'elitist' ghazals to middle-class living rooms in the 1980s and 90s, it is ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh. His soulful voice, the connect with his audience and his art of simplifying the intricate meanings of nazms and shers, blended with an occasional earthy sense of humour - all these factors made his voice an evening guest in every ghazal aficionado's house. Many talented singers have been in the arena since he came, but Jagjit Singh still remains the man who made ghazals popular.

Jagjit Singh passed away at the age of 70 on 10 October 2011 but someone somewhere, a broken heart still resonates with "Yeh duniya jise kehte hai, jaadu ka khilona hai," or hums "Tere khushboo mein base khat mei jalata kaise". Someone with a profound loss even today can't help but cry listening to his ghazal, "Chitti na koi sandesh, jaane wo kaun sa desh jahan tum chale gaye."

Today, 8 February 2023, is Jagjit Singh's 82nd birth anniversary and it is befitting to remember the man who made the world cry in love, and sway in joy with his singing. Here are a few lesser known anecdotes about the ghazal king that are sure to tickle his fans much like his Punjabi tappes.

Father wanted him to be an engineer

Jagjit Singh was born as Jagmohan Singh Dhiman in Rajasthan's Ganganagar on 8 February 1941, to a Sikh family. Not from a well-off family, as a child Jagjit Singh used to study by the light of lantern as there was no electricity in the house. In an interview, Singh had stated that they even lacked the facility of running water.

His love for music was visible right from his childhood days. His father Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, who was a government surveyor, wanted his son to become an engineer or an IAS officer. Even as he wanted a different future for his son, Jagjit's father sensed his son's immense love for music much early in his life. Jagjit started singing on stage when he was 15.

Jagjit Singh trained in classical vocal music for 12 years during his college days under the guidance of two different maestros - Ustad Jamal Khan Saheb of Senia Gharana in Rajasthan and later by Guru Sohan Singhji of Agra Gharana at Jalandhar.

When his ghazals were payment for canteen coffee

It is said that when Jagjit Singh was in DAV College in Jalandhar, he was always short of cash but rich in melody.

Whenever he would go to the canteen for a cup of coffee, he was often surrounded by his friends who insisted that he sang a few ghazals. Singh would sip his coffee, sing a few ghazals and leave, without the canteen owner ever asking for any money. While he didn't ask for any money, the owner kept a note of his 'free coffee'.

Years later, when Singh visited the college canteen and met the owner, the owner showed him the diary where he had meticulously written the number of coffees that were unpaid for. However, when an embarrassed Singh tried to repay him after all these years, the owner smiled and said, "In return for coffee, we heard a lot of your ghazals for free."

Chitra wasn't impressed with Jagjit's ghazals

Jagjit married fellow vocalist Chitra Dutta in December 1969 and the couple released their first album together, The Unforgettable, in 1976. They were absolutely loved as the singing duo but there is an interesting anecdote about when Chitra first heard Jagjit Singh.

In an interview in the popular TV show Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai, Chitra said that when she first heard his voice on a recorded tape, she exclaimed, "Tauba, ye koi awaaz hai!"

Even later, when she was asked to sing a duet with him, she completely refused and said that she wouldn't sing with this boy with such a heavy voice, according to a media report. Reportedly, Jagjit too retorted and said that he wouldn't sing with her either.

However, after the first two failed meetings, when Chitra once gave him a lift while returning home and invited him over for tea, things started changing between them.

When Jagjit wanted to propose to Chitra, she was already married but was living separately from her then husband. Jagjit went up to her then husband Debo Prasad Dutta and confessed that he was in love with Chitra and said 'I want to marry your wife.'

When Pak spies followed him...

In 1979, Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh went to Pakistan for a show for the first time. The mood between the two countries was pensive and the relations were hostile.

When the duo landed in Pakistan, Jagjit got a whiff of the hostility and was hence vigilant of his surroundings. He spotted a man when they left the airport and kept seeing him again and again at various places. The man was obviously following them and this left the singer in jitters.

Back in the hotel room, when the doorbell rang and Jagjit answered, he found the same guy standing in front of him. Jagjit asked the man in Punjabi if he was following them. The person replied in 'yes' and even admitted that he was a Pakistani spy.

But things took an entirely different turn when the man presented him with a gift and confessed that he was a big fan of the singer. The special gift that the Pak spy had got for him was a bottle of wine. The anecdote finds a mention in the book "Baat Niklegi To Phir: The Life and Music of Jagjit Singh".