India has lost its most celebrated songstress. It’s a sad day, but the memories are sweet. Yes, as sweet as Lataji’s gajar halwa (carrot halwa) which she prepared for us at her Lord’s View flat in London, on our tours to England. “If you want to score a century, eat my gajar halwa,” she used to say.

Dilip Vengsarkar, who scored three Test centuries at Lord’s will relate to this more than us. I also remember some of my teammates more engrossed in the television coverage of the 1986 football World Cup than what Lataji prepared for us and I found that so amusing. Imagine Lata Mangeshkar cooking for you and you are more interested in football. But that’s how crazy football fans are!