The LegendOfKishore KumarHe lit up the rainbow of hindi cinema with a voice so close to the divine creation, there was no raga of life left untouched by the warmth of its soul-stirring embrace. So eclectic in its outreach, Kishore Kumar’s repertoire was life itself performing in a theatre we all sat spellbound – celebrating all that we love, or mourning the loss of love and perhaps, even the loss of our innocence in that treacherous cesspool of life’s betrayals. There was always a song from Kishore Kumar to capture the essence of life in its myriad shades.When melancholic, Kishore Kumar easily slipped into the deeper pathos – woh sham kutch ajeeb thi, without losing the dignity of the man suddenly imperiled by the pain of disorientation. When ecstatic, he was so full of effervescent charm laced with the racy young leap of desire for romantic love – yeh sham mastani, madhosh kiye jaaye.His chutzpah came with a modulation of voice differently textured within the same metre – ek chatur naar, badi hoshiyaar, almost designed to serve as a delicious tease to strip a moment, layer by layer, for the bare truth to appear without affectations.More about him later.Yeh jeevan hai.Is jeevan ka.Yahi hai.Yahi Hai.Rang Roop.Kishore Kumar claimed me. I was still so innocent to the ways of the world. I was faltering. So he sang for me, ‘ Ruk jaana nahin, tu kahin har ke’. When I heard everybody admonishing me, he sang, Kutch toh log kahein gay.Still in my early teens. In the spring of my youth. And so much in love with a school friend, Kishore Kumar crooned, Tere jaisa yaar kahan.When i fell in love with a girl for the first time in my life, I heard Kishore Kumar sing to me , Pyar Diwana Hota Hai.Today, as I live, unable to express my love for someone so dear, I hear Kishore Kumar sing to me, Kya Mausam Hai. Chal kahin door nikal jaayein.Remembrance.Kishore Kumar.