Her voice brought peace and magic into the world. She sang in many languages and Bengali in particular. Shakti Samanta’s Amanush (1975) I remember, her Bengali songs were beautiful. Her pronunciations were perfect in every language, which is commendable. You can go to Kashmir, Kanyakumari, Assam or any part of India, her voice was loved because it had a unifying force. ‘Ae mere watan ke logon zara aankh me bhar lo pani’, continues to reduce us to tears for that same reason.
Dilip Sahib always said that Lata ji is my sister. He even called her on stage at Albert Hall (London) and introduced her as his choti bahen. We often went to her house and she too came over. We cooked for her whatever she liked. I recall she always fed him the first nivaala (morsel) with her own hands whenever they ate together