India, Nov. 11 -- Almost 15 years ago, after a decade-long stint as a homemaker, I embarked on my doctoral research and took the first hesitant steps back into academia. In many ways, I was a greenhorn. Once an ardent music lover, my listening habits had shrunk to old radio songs; I hardly knew anything about prevalent music trends, let alone popular Punjabi music.

One afternoon, I was standing outside the Panjab University library with a few fellow scholars. A couple of them walked up to a soft-spoken man of modest height and struck up a conversation. Within minutes, young girls approached him for autographs. Driven by curiosity, I casually asked someone who he was. I remember him looking at me in disbelief.

As it turned out, the gentl...