Having made a promise to Shri Ram, 20 years later, singer Anuradha Paudwal made good on it on January 22, when she sang at Ram Mandir. The 69-year-old says, “It was out of this world.”

When signs of a temple were first found at the site, the singer made a promise: “I said, ‘Aap baahar aa jaao; bhavya mandir jab bhi banega, main aapke pran pratishtha pe gaaungi’. I didn’t get to sing first. I can’t say, ‘Main gaaungi’. I told Ramji that if he wants, I will definitely sing.” So when the temple trust asked her to sing, she teared up.

She was accompanied on stage by her daughter, singer Kavita Paudwal and the mother-daughter duo sang Ram Bhujang Stotram during the sthapna of idol. “Mera gaana hi meri offering tha. Everything was world-class. When they revealed the face of Bhagwaan Ram, I was spellbound,” she ends.