APNI PYAARI DIDI KE NAAM KA PAHELA PURASKAR MODI JI KO JITNE BHI PURASKAR MILE HONGE USSE KAHIN KEEMTI AUR ANMOL HOGA, HAI NA, MODI JI ? ! ...... BY ALI PETER JOHN

There are relationship and relationship, some official and blood related and some made on the basis of sheer admiration, love and respect - Ali Peter John

The relationship as the elder sister and the younger brother between the late Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar and present Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is one such relationship which was accepted by them when nightingale was alive.

The Prime Minister Mr Modi proved how much he cared for his elder sister ( badi didi) when he together with President of India Mr Ram Kovind visited her at her Prabhu Kunj residents when she was not very well last year.

Mr Modi even made it a point to call on Lataji from his aircraft which was flying him to America and the "brother" wished his sister on her birthday and told her that he would not able to wish her personally on her birthday as he would be in America on that day and attending several important meetings.

The elder sister blessed him and thanked him for all the good that he was doing for the country and the younger brother took of for America with the promise that he would see her soon after his return.

But the elder sister kept falling sick and finally struck the country with shock when she died on February 6 . And the younger brother kept aside all his programs and plans and flew to Mumbai to bid farewell to his didi with lacks of other mourners.

He is set to have been in touch with the Mangeshkar family and kept asking them whether they needed any help, but the help they needed no one could give them.

In fact Asha Bhosle went on record to say that they ( the Mangeshkars had been orphaned . And life continued to grapple with the pain of death......

April 24 was the day on which Lata Mangeshkar used to organise the: "late Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar '" 79 years and this year there was no Lata Mangeshkar, but the family decided to continue with the Puraskars .

It was to be the first time when the family was going to present the first first ever " Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar " this award was to be given every year to only one individual who had made path - breaking, spectacular and exemplary contributions to the nation its people and society.

After several meetings of the Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan, it was announced the first awardee would be the Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi .

The announcement declaring the award futher said , "he is our most honourable leader. He is an international statesman who has put India on the path global leadership.

The spectacular progress that has, and is taking place in every aspect and dimension in our beloved nation is driven and inspired by him .

He is indeed one of the greatest leader our great nation has seen in it's glorious history of thousands of years and our family and Trust gratefully thank him accepting this award " .

The Prime Minister in spite of his very hectic schedule accepted the award within minutes and was in Mumbai on April 24 after attending some very crucial meetings in different parts of the country, including Kashmir, after which he flew down to Mumbai and was at the Shanmukananda Hall where a large crowd chanting " Modi Modi Modi" and Vande Mataram were waiting for him .

Welcome address was made by Adhinath the son of Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar who normally is in control of the function on April 24 but who had now been admitted to hospital and was not expected to be out for a week .

I have heard thousands of speeches, but I must hand over my humble Ali Peter John Puraskar to Adhinath for making the kind of speech that could have even put Mr Modi in a state of embarrassment and look for the nearest exit, but Mr Modi had heard hundreds of such poetic speaches in his praise .

Imagine calling a leader the greatest leader on this planet and then saying I adore him and then calling him Gurudev and then calling him sir . Why was he not so clear about how he wanted to praise the greatest leader.

Modi, the younger brother of didi received his award in all humility and said that it was not his award , but an award for the people of the country and presented his award to all indians, making him sound and look so humble.

Mr Modi praised his didi to the sky and even grew very emotional when he said that the coming rakhi festival would have to be celebrated without his didi. The brother had done his best to offer all his love and respect for his didi and then flew to Assam where he have to inaugurate seven cancer hospital in only one district of Dilbrugah which were to be built in the time to come at the cost of several crores of rupees ....

At the Shanmukananda Hall, the Puraskar function was on in full swing . The veteran actress Asha Parekh and Jackie Shroff were presented with the Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar for their contribution to Indian cinema and Rahul Deshpande was honoured with the same award for his contribution to Indian music .

And the only humble and unassuming and smiling face of a winner of an award was the smile of our own Jaggu Dada who like at all big functions looked as lost as ever

And outside the hall, they were two different voices heard, one was " Modi Modi Modi " and the other was Lataji amar rahe .

As I walked half the way to my house because of the various protests over the Hanuman chalisa , I wondered who the next individual winner of the Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar would be next year and then in the following years .

The Mangeshkars have a very tough test ahead, especially with all the politics being created over a great soul.

I still cant imagine how the Mangeshkar family which was once a very important part of Hindu Hriday Samrat Bala Saheb Thackeray could so conveniently forget to even mention the name of Mr Udav Thackeray who was the Chief Minister of Maharastra, but also carried by Lataji in her arms when he was a child and his father Bal Thackeray was busy fighting to establish his Shiv Sena by any method ?

Isn't all this what is called dirty politics ?