Image Credit: Bijay Biswaal, https://www.artzolo.com/artist/biswaal
Late one hot summer afternoon, Platform No.6 of Ranaghat, a little known Kolkata suburban junction railway station, was teeming with people. These were mostly passengers waiting to go home after a day’s tiring work. The cool breezes that blew in the wake of the intermittent showers earlier in the afternoon, however, made the waiting less intolerable.
Among the many waiting passengers was a finely dressed young man. He was sitting on a bench enjoying a snack and tea. Tired and bored as he was, he wanted to get back home soon, but his train was due only after an hour.
Shortly, his idling eyes fell on a poor lady, wearing old torn clothes, begging for alms. He beckoned to her. She came to him and he gave her a snack, which she ate voraciously.
“Do you want some more, Aunty?” he asked generously.
”I am full, son. God bless you!” replied the lady.
”Don’t you have any work to earn a living, Aunty?” His voice was tinged with concern.
”Singing, son. It helps to relieve my hunger pangs”, she said dolefully.
The word ‘singing’ aroused his interest. “Can you sing a song for me, Aunty?”
Eager to oblige, she sang Lata Mangeshkar’s soulful number Ek Pyaar ka Nagmaa hai.
“Melodious! Amazing!” He was so flabbergasted that it took him quite some moments to speak.
“Your voice touches the heart, Aunty! The world deserves to know it.”
He lost no time in capturing the lady on his mobile, singing in her enchanting voice. No sooner was it posted on social media than the video clipping went viral.
Ranu Mondal, the 59-year old platform singer, became India’s new internet singing sensation, instantaneously. Her mellifluous voice, so refreshing and soothing, touched millions of hearts and earned her the sobriquet the ‘Lata of Ranaghat’. As if on cue, small screen and Bollywood jumped on the bandwagon. Offers to sing on reality shows, as well as for films, began coming her way.
Riches followed recognition. The phenomenal rise from a street singer to Bollywood playback singer brought money and wealth.
Ranu owed a great debt of gratitude to the young man whose chance discovery of her on that summer evening had so dramatically changed her life. How would she repay Atindra Chakraborty?
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