Image via WikipediaI don't miss being married: Lata MangeshkarLast few weeks Lata Mangeshkar has been a little caught up. Having wrapped up the Ganpati puja at her Peddar Road residence, the melody queen says there are no special plans for her 82nd birthday today. "I never plan, kyonki jo hona hai wohi hota hai," she smiles. But the evening will see the legendary singer being honoured with the newly instituted `Hridaynath award' for Lifetime Achievement by Amitabh Bachchan. Thereafter she is off to Pune for her usual holiday. Exceprts of an interview...
You are the first recipient of the award that's instituted in your brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar's name
I am proud to accept this award. He is my guru though he is younger to me. I am very proud of him and my other siblings. Yeh bachche mere saamne bade huwe hai aur gaurav ki baat yeh hai ki kisine apne bure waqt pe ya apne mukaam pohochne mei mere madad nahin li. Even though our mother brought them up unke parvarish pe thoda bahut haath mera bhi hai. They are like my children.
In hindsight, what has been the one most enriching and regretting factor in your life respectively?
I am most happy and at ease when I sing. As for regrets, I have none, because whatever God gives it's meant for you and whatever you miss was never for you. I am only thankful to God.
Is there any sense of loneliness that you feel sometimes?
Kabhi kabhi mei ek khaalipan mehsoos karti hun. All my friends are gone..so are the golden days!
Are you in constant touch with friends from the industry?
Nargis and Meena Kumar were my close friends. We used to be in touch regularly till they passed away. Dev Anand is another person who I am in touch with. Otherwise from this generation, Anu Malik often calls me to chat. I am also close to Aamir Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan and Sonu Nigam.
Why do you always holiday in Pune and London?
You forgot Kolhapur. I have a house there too. I often run away to these places when I want to escape Mumbai's cacophony. These places have different and lovely memories for me. But for the last few years I have stopped going to London for personal reasons.
Other than music, what else are you involved in?
Photography. I love clicking pictures. I also love cooking. Everyone loves my gaajar ka halwaa and pasanda. I also prefer sitting in my room and reading. Books are a different world I would like to get lost into.
So have you clicked any new pictures?
Nowadays, I have stopped clicking pictures because I do not understand the functioning of a digital camera which is in vogue. Mujhe acche nahin lagte. I love black and white
pictures.
But you can still click with your old camera?
I have sold all of them because they are hardly in use these days. I don't think anyone values that kind of camera anymore.
Among the sisters who are you closest to ?
I have no favourites and I love all three of them. We share everything like all regular
siblings.
So what about the famous Lata-Asha rivalry?
Aisa kuch nahin hai. Jyadaatar woh sab aafwae the. Yes, we were different in nature. I was the quiet type whereas she was the restless and on edge kind. Badi himmat hai yeh ladki mein. She's a versatile singer and a legend in her own way. But we are sisters and quite close. She comes and sits with me and shares everything. We have one door in our house. My bedroom door opens to Asha's room.
Lastly Lataji, like every girl who grows up with dreams of marriage, do you miss being married?
No. Everything happens according to God's wish. Jo hote hai acche ke liye hote hai aur jo nahin hote who aur acche ke liye hote hai. Had you asked me this about four to five decades back, perhaps you would have got a different answer. But today I have no room for such thoughts.
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