Ishmeet Singh, The Shooting Star by JESSI KAUR
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!
As I heard the shocking news this morning, the floodgates of recent memories opened and tears flowed unabashedly.
There was a buzz at the IIGS's 68th International Sikh Youth Camp in May earlier this year in Khandala, near Pune (India).
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-personalities/26063-ishmeet-singh.html
Ishmeet was coming to camp!
During the evening
divan (service), I found myself sitting next to a young 19-year-old with a look of cheerful innocence on his face.
I remember how his jaw dropped when I asked him if he sang
ghazals or Bollywood songs, or whether he was a classical singer. He looked at me as if to say, "Which planet are you from?"
I kicked myself for showing such ignorance when I saw him smothered by campers who were simply ecstatic to have him in their midst.
I explained to him that I did not watch Indian TV at all. His smile told me that I was forgiven.
Over the next few days, as I got to know Ishmeet, I saw what a special young man he was.
Not because he had just won the Star TV contest and become the Voice of India, or because he felt that the award was a special gift from Guru Nanak on whose
prakash utsav (Birth Anniversary)day he received the award.
Not because right after he won the award, he promised that his first album would be of shabads, or 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.
Ishmeet had a freshness about him. He became a part of the camp routine, performing melodious kirtan in his velvet voice during the morning and evening divans. He sang from the heart in a voice that sounded like silk. He sat through the lectures and avidly participated in discussions.
During an afternoon session, when the rest of the youth was hemming and hawing about what they would be looking for in a mate, and answers like "someone who respects my parents" or "someone who is well educated and independent" were unconvincingly bandied around, Ishmeet's "I am looking for a beautiful Sardarni" brought peals of laughter and approving pats on his shoulder.
Had he found his beautiful Sardarni? He did not want to shatter the mystique. But something told me that there was a young Sikhni out there who had already stolen his heart.
Every evening after langar, the courtyard of the campground rang out with the beat of Punjabi songs and popular Bollywood numbers. The campers sang and swayed with him and screamed as he broke into familiar rhythms.
Ishmeet never hogged the show but passed the mike around, encouraging everyone to take his or her turn to sing. The joy of singing with a celebrity shone on the young faces of the campers! I am sure there were some that dreamed of following in his footsteps.
Suddenly, it seemed, there was no glass ceiling - even in the bright and glittery world of music and show-biz.
He was dogged at each step with some camper or the other badgering him for a photograph or an autograph. Girls ran circles around him and young boys clambered all over him, tugging, hugging, touching, hoping that a speck of his charisma would rub off on them.
Never for a moment did Ishmeet show an iota of annoyance. When someone commented on his patience, he said that it was only because of those who loved him that he had tasted fame and glory. Otherwise, he would be like so many out there...unrecognized and forgotten on the wayside.
Was everything hunky dory on his road to fame, I asked him in a private conversation.
Ishmeet already had lucrative playback singing assignments, was brand ambassador for products, had offers to anchor TV shows and to star in TV serials.
Life was looking good.
A cloud passed over his sweet countenance, when he heard my question.
"It is very lonely at the top,
didi", he said to me.
"Lonely?" I queried, "with thousands of fans and adoring masses?"
"Yes, lonely", he repeated.
"Lonely because those that are close to you become jealous of your success. You become a stranger to your friends because you do not inhabit their world anymore. They shut you out and move on because they view you as a celebrity, and no more a part of their everyday lives".
He said that his days were spent in rigorous recordings and evenings found him exhausted. As he lay in bed, missing the warmth of home and musing on what his friends in the neighbourhood were doing, he was too tired to call them.
And even when he did, there were more stilted silences than real conversations. If he talked to them about his world, they would think he was showing off, he said, and they did not share their stories because he was in a "different league" now. Slowly, the connection broke and awkwardness crept in.
Ishmeet said that the joy of knowing that his people rallied behind him kept him going.
If his community had showered him with affection, Ishmeet, too, had touched everyone with his special brand of warmth. His ready smile was like a sunburst, stirring everyone around him.
I met him again at the camp held in Dehradun last month ... only a few short weeks ago! ... and we chatted about his plans for the future.
He was going to come to the Darbar-e-Khalsa in Los Angeles in December and later go on a tour of the U.S.
Plans and dreams that have today been snapped midstream!
Plans that will now be washed away by the collective tears of the community.
His sudden and tragic death by drowning has left millions of his fans with a deep sense of loss.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=26063
Our children had finally found a Sardar heart-throb, someone who was handsome and charming and in show-biz, someone that was giving the turban a positive image, a role model for the youth, an inspiration for all. And now ...
Haunted by a bundle of unanswered "why's", we will replay his music over and over again to fill the gaping hole of our bereavement.
This evening, when I sought refuge in Baba Ji's room to pray for peace for his departed soul , the
vaak on page 751 of Guru Granth Sahib spoke of a life touched by grace, of a life well lived:
Precious is human life; only the pious are granted it.
And, through Grace, body and mind are both comforted by His Love.
Having traded in Truth, thou depart fully accomplished;
Surrendering to His Will, received art thou with honour in His Court.
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