SHADOWS have a distinct propensity of lulling their beneficiaries into a superfluous comfort. For those living in the perennial shadow of a giant personality, it is a twin struggle of carving one’s own identity and dodging comparisons. Always at risk of getting eclipsed by the glory of the favourite, seldom do the second fiddle make their own destiny without getting affected by the shadows. Those rare few who manage their own silhouette within the shadow then become the carriers of immense faith of their followers. They become parallels of the giants with a special touch to their craft which, sometimes, towers over even the divine gift of the near-equal one. One such creator of this rare silhouette was the legendary Asha Bhosle.

 

The creator of a parallel music universe alongside her illustrious elder sister Lata Mangeshkar, Ashatai has left a rich legacy and a precious message for all the second fiddle to see its ephemerality that they generally take as their destiny. Apart from her extraordinary singing breadth, it will be the most powerful lesson not just for her fans but also for every human seeking one’s own silhouette in the world of massive shadows. The life of Ashatai itself forms a golden chapter in human resilience and self-belief that allows a performer to keep adding value to one’s craft without getting intimidated by the flow of unabashed encomiums on the favourite one. In her case, the glory of Lata Mangeshkar had found a pedestal quite early on the dint of her divine voice. Lataji deserved every bit of love and praise showered by music lovers. For Ashatai, staying in the big shadow was a comfort as well as a challenge. She indulged in both with equal poise and kept chiselling her own voice quality for a special identity. This struggle, this burning passion to find one’s own bright corner in the huge shadow was the defining feature of her career and a ready playbook for many in other professions.

 

Years later, far away from the music studios, a lean but sturdy young man picked up this playbook on the cricket field. He entered a dressing room which had already set up a corner for a special player. Within no time, the young batsman picked up the same qualities, trusted his own abilities and became a near-equal but with a totally different characteristic. The young man, Rahul Dravid, became the carrier of cricket lovers’ faith with his dogged resistance on the pitch. As Sachin Tendulkar ruled the cricketing world’s collective conscience with his supreme batting abilities, Dravid remained faithful to his own craft – of using defence as a handsome form of aggression. In his dour batting, in his long hours on the cricket pitch, in his sage-like calm in face of ugly aggression, India found a rare assurance. He became the symbol of grit even as flamboyance flowed through adventurous channels from the other end. The Dravid Defence was beautiful in its own way, because it was wrapped in the total faith of his followers. In his dead-bat defence, India found its life and cherished it equally with Tendulkar’s lavish spread of cricketing shots. Rahul Dravid brought out his leadership qualities, adapted to the changing nature of strokeplay, and answered to the demands of the occasion by donning almost every role in the team to emerge as a worthy legend at the end of his glorious career.

 

At times when the ‘God’ was on leave(!) Dravid silently occupied his place to answer India’s distress calls. He braved extreme exhaustion to carve a jailbreak in Kolkata in the famous 2001 Test. He displayed no pain in handling the uneven bounce of a damp first morning pitch at Headingley in 2002. He carried the country on his back in the soothing Test win at Adelaide in 2003. He was the rock that crushed Pakistan’s pace battery with a solid double century at Rawalpindi in 2004. These were the moments that weaved his own distinct silhouette even as the big shadow loomed on the horizon. It was destiny’s call but then Dravid went a step ahead to make his own little destiny in these moments. Behind the mic, Ashatai moved across every genre – from devotional music to pop music to folk songs to ghazals in different languages. All compositions rooted in classical traditions became her forte as she created a vocal persona that never shied from flirting with adventure. As the Goddess of Music soothed hearts with her honey-filled melodies, Ashatai chose a different and bold path. The numbers that are being evoked after her exit are proof of the wide range she presented in her glorious career. Still, some unique moments within the songs deserve a recall for the sheer magic of Ashatai. Two such moments came in ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’ and ‘Caravan’ with the great composer Rahul Dev Burman. The playful lilt in ‘Mil jao to tum andhere ujaaaale..’ line of ‘Lekar Hum Diwana Dil’ became an expression of a cheerful mind madly in love with her craft. The zany ‘Daiyyan Re Mai Kaha Aa Phasi’ is hardly discussed in her music journey but the high-pitch Ashatai attained in this song with melodious ease would remain a moment when the second fiddle turned into a numero uno. Both Dravid and Ashatai were receivers from the big shadows around them. Both refused to get lulled into its cool comfort and used it as a launchpad to prepare their own grind. They turned their second fiddle status into a mere linguistic expression. They became carriers of the faith of their followers with a versatility that has to be earned with years of rigour and riyaaz. More importantly, they became the sounding board of the giants around them, absorbing their frustrations, providing them a cushion and became safe keepers of their trust. And in the process, they became the equals, not second.