Begum Akhtar and a memorable ‘ghazal baithaki’ in passport office!

Back in the 1950s, the queen of ghazals went to the passport office to inquire about delay in her passport. A young passport office, who was a big fan of hers, requested her to sing his favourite ghazal, and she obliged.

Lucknow: “Par beta yahan par saaz toh hai nahin (but son, there are no musical instruments here),” legendary ghazal singer Begum Akhtar had once said in answer to a rather unusual request from a young officer of the passport department in Lucknow in the late 1950s.

Begum Akhtar sang her signature ghazal, much to the delight of the young officer and all his staff. (Pic for representation)

The Begum had arrived at the passport department, wanting to know what had held up her passport, a rather common feature of those times and reason why several Lok Sabha MPs too had later demanded a Parliamentary committee to look into discrimination and delays in issuing passports.

The young officer at the passport department, Harish Chandra Pande, a die-hard Begum fan, couldn’t believe his luck when he saw the legendary singer walk into the office.

The Begum wanted to know the reason for the delay but the young officer was so enamoured by the presence of the ghazal queen in his office, that he hardly registered anything, except her arrival.

In his mind, he was already replaying her immortal ghazals like ‘deewana banana hai toh deewana bana de’ and of course, ‘aye mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aaya’.

“Badi bi, ek guzaarish hai, kya aap ‘aye mohabbat’ suna sakti hai (respected woman, there is a request. Could you sing ‘ae mohabbat’,” the officer asked.

The Begum, perhaps no stranger to such requests, smiled but said she had come to the passport office with a complaint and wasn’t carrying her instruments.

The officer however, wasn’t ready to give up as he cleverly reminded the ghazal queen that she hardly needed any musical instrument!

“I will ensure your complaint gets sorted. But please, don’t say no to my request. You don’t need any musical instruments as such but if you insist, I can always send someone to fetch them,” he said. The Begum reluctantly agreed and sometime later, a harmonium arrived at the passport office where the Begum sang her signature ghazal, much to the delight of the young officer and all his staff. “She didn’t just stop at one but also a few others, replete with the subtle variations she brought into play. She could well have said no but she was extremely polite, steeped in Lakhnavi tehzeeb and wouldn’t say no to her fans,” said the officer, who eventually retired as principal secretary. He had fondly shared about that meeting while recalling the memorable ‘ghazal baithaki (sitting over ghazals)’ during office hours, right inside his office!