Lata Mangeshkar’s demise on Sunday at age 92 reminded many old-timers of Santiniketan of an event exactly 25 years ago.

On February 6, 1997, the Nightingale of India had met another legend in the university town, Rabindra Sangeet exponent Kanika Bandyopadhyay.

There, Mangeshkar had expressed a wish to sing a Rabindra Sangeet album directed by Bandyopadhyay, recalled sources. The idea never germinated as Bandyopadhyay died three years later in 2000.

“Lataji visited Anandadhara, the home of my baro mashi (Kanika) where she stated in front of all that she would like to release a Rabindra Sangeet album directed by Kanika Bandyopadhyay. However, it was not possible as my mashi (aunt) passed away in 2000. We were deprived of such a historic collection of Rabindra Sangeet,” said Priyam Mukherjee, Bandyopadhyay's nephew and a Rabindra Sangeet artiste present at the 1997 meeting.

“That meeting had come about because Visva-Bharati had chosen to confer its highest award, the ‘Desikottam’, to both the legends in the same ceremony that year, and their meeting had generated much anticipation,” said a Santiniketan old-timer.

On the morning of the event, Mangeshkar and Bandyopadhyay met each other reportedly for the first time. But the rapport between them was instant, recalled those present.
On the dais, Mangeshkar said she’d like to sing a verse of the Saraswati Vandana and proceeded to do so. The “awestruck” audience listened to the impromptu performance with “pin drop” silence, said old-timers.

Later that afternoon, Bandyopadhyay sent a bouquet of flowers from her garden to Mangeshkar's hotel.

“I, accompanied by Gora Sarbadhikari (also an eminent Rabindra Sangeet exponent), went to the hotel to hand over the flowers to Lataji. She asked me in Bengali, ‘Mohor di pathiyechhen? (Were these sent by Mohor di?)’. I cannot forget the humility of such a legendary person,” said Bandyopadhyay's nephew Mukherjee. Friends and admirers fondly addressed Bandyopadhyay as Mohor di.

Lata Mangeshkar with Kanika Bandyopadhyay (left) at the latter’s Santiniketan residence Anandadhara on February 6, 1997. Priyam Mukherjee

That evening, Mangeshkar visited Bandyopadhyay’s home, he added.

Many in Santiniketan who witnessed Mangeshkar on campus in 1997 recalled how interested she was in Rabindranath Tagore’s legacy, and how she had paid her respects to the legendary poet.

“She stood in front of the Nobel Prize medal kept inside a glass box, and touched her forehead on it. She spent at least five minutes in such a gesture to pay respect to Rabindranath. Her way of paying respect, I will never forget…,” said Samiran Nandy, a former photographer of Visva-Bharati who had covered Mangeshkar on behalf of the varsity.

Mangeshkar asked for a photograph with him at the dinner offered by then vice-chancellor Dilip Kumar Sinha, he recalled. “She called me over for a photograph with me as she probably saw me taking photographs the entire day. It was like an award to me,” said Nandy.

Visva-Bharati cancelled its cultural programme on Sunday on the occasion of Magh Mela after the news of Mangeshkar’s demise was out and instead announced a special prayer in her memory scheduled for Wednesday.

Mangeshkar’s time spent in Santiniketan in 1997 is “still a sweet memory” for old-timers who were accustomed to the world of autograph books. Many displayed them on social media posts on Sunday.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee offered her condolences in a tweet that read, “...Like all her fans and followers across the planet, I was also mesmerized by her voice and renderings, and felt grateful that she held Bengal and the artists of the East so dear to her heart and so integral to her magnificent world of music.”