The Sleeping Princess : Remembering Devdas*

...."And it was at that age, poetry arrived in search of me."

His songs didn't arrive in search of me; but Nepal Radio brought them to me. It was perhaps way back in 1984 or so, when I first heard his name, and the song played was about his request to the Princess to fall into slumber. And since that day, I've been fascinated with his voice. and with passing time it has only continually grown!

He was the original Devdas, in and outside of the reel life, and he led the life of Devdas.....

"... offering in the smoke
his wayward tenderness
in one drink after another,
until he fell in stages
as if the wine itself
had taken him further and further away from us!"

He could no longer sing without getting drunk first, and his end came quite early. There was none to sing lullaby to the Princess ever since!

*Kundan Lal Saigal (death: 18th January, 1947); Acknowledgements: Pablo Neruda.