Sonali: Tell us about your St. Xavier's College days.
Pankaj: Yes, they were very pleasant. Sonali, you too were part of the same college.
Manish: (Interrupts) who was senior?
Sonali: (quickly) Pankaj, of course.
Pankaj: Sonali was much, much junior but we are proud to be from that college. In our college, there was a musical environment and we had a sangeet mandal where students of all ages would participate in it. Age was no bar and only music was the bond. We had Sonali, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Anuradha Paudwal, Preeti Sagar, Satish Shah and Nitin Mukesh who was our senior. Satish Shah always said that he wanted to become an actor. We used to laugh and tell him who would make him an actor?
Sonali: How did you start with ghazal singing?
Pankaj: It's a long story. I started in the year 1969. My elder brother was studying Urdu from a teacher, Saeed Mirza. I fell in love with the language when I heard it.
Sonali: Is Urdu language important for ghazals?
Pankaj: Yes, I feel language is important because feeling the poetry is important to be a good singer. And the feeling of the poem can be understood only if the language is clear. Urdu language has words, which have different meanings and connotations.
Sonali: In today's new generation, we see very little influence of Urdu.
Pankaj: Yes it is true. The main problem is the Urdu script. It is difficult to understand and no longer taught in schools and colleges. I feel that the basics should be taught to try and keep the language alive. Diction is very important. Today's artists are very talented but their diction is not clear.
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