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Rekha Bhardwaj, whose song, Darmiyaan, from the series Musafir Café, is playing everywhere, talks about her journey with music and her husband, who turned her career with Namak ishq ka

, from the series about an unfinished chapter, unabated longing and an aching sense of loss, is the song on everyone’s lips today. Rekha Bhardwaj, who has sung it with composer Raghav Kaushik, agrees it lures you with its melody and simplicity, its language and Amrita Saluja’s poignant lyrics, its relatable characters and their emotions which we have all felt sometime.

“In India, music is a part of our lives. Netflix doesn’t usually have songs in their shows, but for this one, they recorded a full album and even shot videos,” says the National Award-winning singer, surprised that has clicked even with youngsters. “I guess, they are looking for love, peace and melody far more than we are today,” she smiles, sipping her cappuccino in a quiet café in a bustling Mumbai suburb.

Rekha grew up learning music from Pandit Amarnath and remembers that in ’86, when she was 22, classical vocalist Kishori Amonkar had come to Delhi’s Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra where she had classes for a lecture demo. “Kishori-ji spoke about the importance of , insisting we needed to practise eight hours every day, pointing out that there are seven (musical notes)If we sang each 108 times, it would be around six-and-half hours. Add and and you had your eight-hour . Following her advice, (I started these vocal warm-ups and slowly tilled the ground),” she recalls, the hoops in her ears swinging with her memories.  

Her had to increase because  Jagjit Singh. Rekha had grown up listening to ghazals by Farida Khanum, Mehdi Hassan, Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Pankaj Udhas and hi among others. Jagjit Singh revolutionized the genre with his voice, the simplicity of his compositions, by bringing the guitar and keyboard into his singing. Rekha was fascinated by the ghazals he composed and sang for Gulzar’s ’88 biographical series She waited impatiently for the Doordarshan show every week even though the poet’s struggles—brilliantly portrayed by Naseeruddin Shah—made her cry in empathy. “Jagjit and Gulzar brought Ghalib into our homes, making his poetry comprehensible to all. I see the same fascination with and ’s today, the lines having as much of an emotional impact as Ghalib’s . My only complaint is Raghav kept all the best lines for himself and is spinning reels now,” she laughs with gentle humour.