As a musician I have always believed that there are two types of music which can penetrate your heart. One which makes you happy and the other which comforts you when you are sad.
Until I met the third kind – the kind which makes you cry without making you sad, the kind which makes you so happy that you have tears in your eyes.
My hometown is in Dhanbad (Jharkhand). My family do not set much in store in observing the rituals of Chhath Puja at home, but we have always celebrated it as part of a community, in the neighbourhood. I have never seen an image of the goddess Chhath anywhere, but ever since childhood, I have managed to convince myself that Sharda Sinha was Chhathi Maiyaa, the reigning goddess of Chhath who sings and prays for people.
Sinha, famous across Bihar, passed away a day ago. She was 72.
My friends from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh have always considered the season of Chhath their designated holiday for the year. Across India, they save their workplace leaves just to be able to take them at this time – to return home and celebrate this huge festival. All neighborhoods echo with songs at this time. And anyone walking by can tell that it is Sharda ji’s voice that rings from the microphones. Her’s was a voice that would ring the festival home. It would make you feel like it was, indeed, a festival you had looked forward to all year.
Popularly known as ‘Bihar kokila’ or ‘the cuckoo of Bihar’, Sinha’s voice and songs were not limited to Bihar but celebrated across the globe.
As a cultural ambassador of the government of India, Sinha performed in many countries, including Mauritius, Germany and Belgium. She has significant fan bases in Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, the West Indies, Kenya, the Maldives and the USA. She has sung extensively in Maithili, Bhojpuri, and Magahi. Her mettle was a reminder that one does not become Sharda Sinha just like that. Penance, renunciation and concentration makes you Sharda Sinha.
Weddings, functions and the Chhath festival are incomplete without her songs. While the playlist of event-friendly songs have changed with time, Sinha has been forever present on it. You especially cannot have a Chhath celebration without invoking Sinha. She was the festival itself.
If you are in my hometown of Dhanbad during Chhath, her songs will follow you everywhere. They will make you happy. They will also make you cry as you think of the passage of time.
Her death is a personal loss to me. She was an emotion and while emotions doesn’t die, the world is a quieter place today.
Ankit Dubey is The Wire’s technical head.
