A fitting honor to Lata Mangeshkar

Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar was conferred the ‘Life Achievement Award’ by Merrill Lynch investment managers and Adora, India's second largest diamond exporter. The title was conferred at a ceremony on November 25 in London in recognition of her outstanding contributions to art, culture and music.

Mangeshkar was in London for the fund-raising Christie's auction of the diamond jewelry line Swaranjali created by her and crafted by Adora which fetched 1, 05, 000 pounds. The designs were inspired by the large collection of jewelry that the veteran singer received from her father, Dinanath Mangeshkar.

The five pieces auctioned included 4.77 carat Rose made of gold and diamond, a diamond and ruby Eternity set, suites made of marquise-cut, pear-shaped diamonds, diamonds and emeralds and diamonds and blue topaz.

Part of the proceeds will be donated to relief efforts aimed at earthquake victims in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, and Pratham, a children's charity. She made an impassioned plea seeking help from individuals for quake victims and hoped that relations between India and Pakistan would stabilize in the near future. Several leading NRI industrialists including Joginder Sanger, NRI hotelier and Lord Swarj Paul, NRI industrialist and British Ambassador for Overseas Business, attended the event at the Langham Hotel.