My professional association with Lata Mangeshkar began when we worked together in the first song that I had written for Silsila [1981], Dekha ek khwab toh yeh silsile huye. It was an honour that my two favourite singers, Lataji and Kishoreda [Kumar] brought my words alive. After that, we kept meeting.

Lataji was a larger-than-life person who was immensely talented and focused on her work. Every singer treats their first song with extreme focus; Lataji would do that for each and every song. To me, Lataji was as great an artiste as Michelangelo, Beethoven and Shakespeare. In the history of mankind, we should leave such immensely talented people out of the chain of human civilization. Such people are of a different league and are emblems of perfection. They remind us that perfection can prevail among mediocrity. Lata Mangeshkarji ke jaise na koi tha, na koi hoga…