Ludhiana, August 01, 2008
Nineteen is a young age to attain
celebrity status and definitely too young to die. But that reality of life came
home to millions mourning the sudden death of reality singing contest "Voice of
India" winner Ishmeet Singh.
With so many reality shows on
television, stars are made and unmade almost everyday. But Ishmeet was
different. This singer from a modest background from Punjab's industrial city of
Ludhiana touched the hearts and minds of millions of music lovers not just by
winning the "Voice of India" contest last November but living up to his image of
a "gentle Sardar" till last Tuesday.
It took just one moment of excitement
at the deep end of a swimming pool in faraway Maldives to drown not just the
high hopes that Ishmeet had for himself but also of the music fraternity in
Bollywood and millions of his admirers who wanted him to make it big as a
crooner.
"We went to the pool at the Maldives
resort together. He kept egging us to come into deeper water even though none of
us knew swimming. He even mocked his drowning once and laughed it off. The
second time, which we realized later that he was actually drowning, we didn't
take it seriously. We shouted for help but it was too late," fellow performers
Viyom and Arunima, who went with Ishmeet for the Maldives event, told Star
News channel Thursday.
"This place (Maldives) is so beautiful.
Mujhe toh k,oi yahan naukri dey de, main toh yahan hi reh jaunga (If someone
gives me a job here, I will live here only)," Ishmeet told his companions
Tuesday as they arrived in the Indian Ocean island country, just a couple of
hours before he drowned.
The drum beats, 'bhangra' steps and
bursting of crackers November last year in Ludhiana and all over Punjab were
drowned when tens of thousands turned up once again for the singer - this time
to say a final goodbye.
His popularity could be seen from the
stampede-like situation at the cremation ground and also the fact that a few TV
news channels telecast his funeral live.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had
called up his shattered family in Ludhiana to condole his death. Punjab Chief
Minister Parkash Singh Badal not only got a special plane to bring his body from
New Delhi but came to pay his last respects too.
Music world and television biggies -
singers Abhijeet, Mika, Hans Raj Hans, Harbhajan Mann and Shreya Goshal and
reality show producer Gajendra Singh - lined up like commoners at his cremation.
"It is hard to believe that the "Voice
of India", Ishmeet Singh, is no more. Like a shooting star, he's come and gone
... in a blink of the eye!" wrote columnist Jessi Kaur in Sikh diaspora website
Sikhchic.com as she recounted her encounter with him at an international Sikh
youth camp at Khandala near Pune.
"He promised that his first album would
be of shabads, because he took his role as an icon for the Sikh youth seriously.
Ishmeet, to me, was really special because his success had not gone to his head
and, at heart, he remained the sweet, simple boy from Ludhiana with the love of
Sikhi swelling in his heart."
"He saw himself as blazing a trail for
his young Sikh brothers and sisters who he hoped would follow their dreams,
achieving great successes while proudly displaying the Khalsa form and spirit.
He felt that he had been given a great responsibility: to inspire and to coax
the best out of the Sikh youth,"
