During the days that Shri Nathji and Mateshwari had been living in Mussoorie in the early 1940’s they would often go to watch the Hindi films that came in the theatres there. Most often they would watch the films of Saihgal. Almost all of them would be steeped in tragedy. Priya Nath would recall the immense feeling of gloom that filled him as he came out of the cinema hall after the film. There would be the romances between Suraiya and Saihgal and, almost always, one or the other of the two would die in the end. Priya Nath had not forgotten how Saihgal had jumped off the edge of a mountain in one of his films. He often wondered why the producers made sad films to “entertain” the public. The viewer came out with a greater depression than he had gone in with. What kind of an entertainment was sadness?“Chaahaa barbaad karegi hamen maalum naa thhaa!“Desire would lead to ruin, alas, I never knew!”Priya Nath, who could not understand the Urdu words, misinterpreted “Chaahaa” to mean “Chaaye” i.e. Tea. And he wondered how tea could have ruined Saihgal’s life!“Gham deeye mustakil, kitna naazuk hai dil,“Oh, the perpetual sorrows that it gave, Caring not for my delicate heart, When Shri Nathji listened to Priya Nath’s recording, he said with great joy, clapping his hands in applause: “Saihgal kyaa hai aapke saamne–aapki to Rabbi aavaaz hai!“What is Saihgal before you? – yours is a Divine Voice!”Even as Priya Nath listens to the audio cassette of Saihgal’s songs, he begins recording the most popular ones which Mahamateshwari used to play at Mussoorie on the gramophone. He does this to “practice” music and to see how well he can match up to the former best singer of the land.Jab dil hee toot gayaaWhen the heart is broken,And:Ai quaatibe taqdeer mujhe itnaa to bataa deO Writer of my destiny, tell me this much only,Shri Nathji enjoys the song of Soordas as well as that of Tansen which Saihgal had sung, and which Priya Nath sang to perfection:Nain heen ko raah dikhaa Prabhu!Show the way to one who is blind O Lord,Deeyaa jalaao jag mag jag mag deeyaa jalaaoLight the lamp and let it glimmerPriya Nath had always been fond of Tansen’s song, “Deeyaa Jalaao” during his childhood and had often tried to imitate it, singing it loudly in the bathroom and in the verandah of Savitri Nivas. But he had never thought of actually singing it with any degree of finesse.“Ai dile bekaraar jhoom”“O restless heart sway with joy”However, the sad verses of Saihgal were in sharp contrast to the cheerful bliss-giving ghazals of Shri Nathji in which every verse contained a world of joy. While most poets and lyricists in India would dwell upon the sadness of life and write verses of despair, Shri Nathji’s writings were always full of bliss. Shri Nathji lived in the same world as the rest of mankind, but his angle of vision was different. As he wrote in His book Atma Vijay II:“Maine dukhon ko diyaa Muhabbat kaa tamghaa ataa“I gave a medal of honour to sorrows that came my way,There were also the words of Shri Nathji’s ghazal:“Ghame aalam kahaan hotaa jo gham apnaa diyaa hota“Where would the sorrows of the world have been, if only Thou hadst given me the sorrow for ThyselfPriya Nath observed that whenever he practised Saihgal’s songs, ill luck–manhoosiyat–invariably came to the house, and therefore he sang them very rarely, and then, too, purely for the sake of practicing music, and not for the words or their meanings. In fact Priya Nath rarely listened to the words and concentrated upon the notes of music.