There are really no words left to describe Lata and her contribution to Hindi films. No matter what adjective one uses to describe her, it seems limited and a cliché. Playback singer Lata Mangeshkar is much more than an Indian legend. This daughter of Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar and Shuddhamati, celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday and good wishes poured from all over by her wellwishers and fans throughout the world. Life was not always so great for the illustrious singer, who was forced to fend for her family from the tender of 13 after her father passed away. She acted and sang in films to take care of her family which consisted of her mother, a brother and three sisters. She was mentored in those early days by Master Vinayak and music composers like Ghulam Haider. Those were the days when the likes of Noorjehan and Shamshad Begum ruled the roost and Lata's voice was considered to be too thin by many. But once her solo, 'Aayega Aanewala', from the 1949 film, 'Mahal' became a hit, the singer did not ever have to look back. Music directors thronged to her and she got to sing for all the greats like SD Burman. C Ramchandra, Anil Biswas, Jaidev, Hemant Kumar, Naushad, Salil Chowdhury, Madan Mohan, Shankar Jaikishen and others. She became the voice of heroines like Nutan, Nargis and Meena Kumari and later of Hema Malini, Raakhee, Sharmila Tagore and Jaya Bhaduri. She has probably sung for almost all the heroines in Hindi cinema, including even heroines like Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol and Preity Zinta. Her siblings, Asha Bbhonsle and Usha Mangeskar also ventured into playback singing. But it was only Asha, who managed to give any kind of tough competition to her. It took her a while, but Asha finally managed to emerge from Lata's shadow as a singer in her own right and the female playback options for most composers in Bollywood were either Lata or Asha. Having rightly been honored with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor, the singer today leads a more or less semi retired life at her Pedder Road residence. But music still continues to be a part of her life. One will soon her singing for Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Jail', where she is believed to have sung a bhajan . She has also recently released an album on the Hanuman Chalisa. With more than a thousand Hindi film songs to her credit, besides songs in every possible Indian language, Lata Mageshkar is much more than a legend. Hers is a phenomenal life.