Lata Mangeshkar opens up about her struggling days, equation with sister Asha and more…

Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, on her 88th birthday, must be embracing all the beautiful and heart-warming wishes she has been receiving. In a career spanning over seven decades, she has not only taken Indian music to an international stature but has also achieved global respect.

However, the singer says she still feels young!

“Should I tell you the truth? I don’t feel my age at all. I still feel young. I’ve never been weighed down by my troubles. Everyone has her share of problems in life. Even when I was young and struggling, and I was happy hopping from studio to studio bumping into other strugglers like Kishore da and Mukesh bhaiyya.”

“Those were fun times even when I had to go hungry for the entire day. There was no money in my purse. But there was only hope in my heart. And the belief that no matter how tough the future looked there was always hope for a better tomorrow,” she said, in an interview. (Also Read:  An unsolved mystery: The time when Lata Mangeshkar was slowly poisoned)

But she is quite turned off with the run-of-the-mill questions that come her way more than often.

“Bahut ho gaya… Aapko kaisa lagta hai… Aap gaati kyun nahin hain… Aapke favourite naye singers kaun hai… Aap apni behen (Asha Bhosle) se kyun nahin milti… Arrey bhai, sab ho chuka hai (It’s enough… How do you feel? Why don’t you sing? Who are your favourite new singers? Why don’t you meet your sister? I have answered all this enough),” she added.

Her relationship with younger sister Asha Bhosle has always sparked rumours; and the two have together kept quashing speculations of any bitterness between them.

We wish you prolonged health and happiness, Lata ji!

Inputs from IANS

Ranjini Maitra

Journalist. Writer. Reader. Enthu cutlet. Mood-swing machine. Day dreamer. Sandwiched between ‘live life fully’ and ‘lose some weight’. Mantra of life: Love and love more.