At 75, Asia?s resident nightingale Lata Mangeshkar seems all set to enter a new vocation. How does ?Lata Mangeshkar: Jewellery Designer? sound on her awesome CV?

Lata turns jewel designer for the well-known brand, Adora, diamonds. Not only will the Nightingale provide jewellery designs for the Lata Mangeshkar collection, she?ll also endorse each piece of jewellery that?s created in her legendary name.

Says the smiling diva, ?My fondness for diamonds is well-known. After singing, diamonds are my grand passion. One day I was shopping at Adora when the director Prabir Chatterjee made the suggestion that I bring out my passion for diamonds in the world. It sounded like a good idea. I brought out my designs?and he seemed to like them. Now after the release function last Wednesday, the collection designed and endorsed by me will hit the market. Every piece, a ring or a bangle, will carry my signature done by laser imprint.?

Reminiscing on her abiding love for diamonds, Lata laughs, ?I?ve been fond of diamonds from childhood. When I was a child, my father used to design jewellery. But we couldn?t afford to realise our dreams. He had a keen eye for jewellery and was fond of wearing precious stones. We kids were equally fascinated by jewels. Until I became a professional playback singer, I refused to wear jewellery. I had decided I?d wear only diamonds. With my first income I bought golden jewellery for my mother. For myself I got a diamond ring. It was a specially designed diamond and ruby ring with the initials ?LM? in it. I still have that ring. It?s one of my most prized possessions. From 1949, I became keenly interested in looking at and buying diamonds. My idol and favourite singer, K.L. Saigal, had a brother who knew diamond merchants very closely. I?d buy a lot of my jewellery through Saigal Saab?s brother. This way I got to indulge in two of my passions at the same go: I was close to my favourite singer and diamonds.?

She laughs at the fond recollection. ?Over the years I always visited diamond stores in Paris, Tokyo and London?. every part of the world, and studied how they were designed and made. As they became affordable to me, I gradually acquired a collection of my own. I remember I once I asked my rakhi-brother Sivaji Ganesan to get me specially designed diamond bangles from Chennai. Designing jewellery is my hobby. Wearing diamonds is my passion. I don?t wear too much jewellery. Whenever I do it?s got to be diamonds.?

Coming back to the present Lata says, ?I?m happy to be endorsing a classy line-up. Who doesn?t like jewellery? Women love to wear them. And men love to gaze at them. Why nowadays men are as fond of wearing jewels as women! I?ve opened up my designs for the Adora collection. I?m not just the brand ambassador for this collection. I?m the creator. It?s like turning from singing to music composition,? she smiles in her inimitable style.

SKJ