BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: ASHA SE HAMESHA NEERAASHA BAHUT DOOR REHETI HAI..... LATAJI NE ASHA KO PATHAAN NAAM DIYA THA .... BY ALI PETER JOHN

When Master Deenanath Mangeshkar and his wife Mai had their eldest daughter, they first named her Hema, but it was only after several months that they decided to call her Lata and then they didn't have to change her name ever again But when they had their third daughter, they named her Asha and the name was final and his one of the most well-known name in the world today. Asha is 88 now, but she is still full of hope, life, love, understanding and success. And ask her why she is so strong, so zinda dil and so happy all the time, she says,. 'rokar kya karna hai ? rokar kya hona hai ? ek zindagi di hai uparwaale ne, isko kyon na hum hasi khushi aur gaand naachne mein kyon na guzaare ' . When Asha told the audience at the Shanmukananda Hall that Lata always called her a Pathaan, I felt like going into a flashback into the daring and brave life of Padmavibhushan Asha Bhosle who is nothing but a picture of a woman who had taken life in her stride and has never given up hope in the face of the greatest storms in her life. Asha spent her early days in Poona and then in Solapur in dire poverty like her sisters and brother, but she never cried over her fate, but kept supporting her elder sister when she was doing both theater and films . And when she found her opportunity to bask in the limelight, it was always her sister ( tai) who came first.But she kept struggling and went from one recording studio to another and met every known and unknown composer, but very few gave her the encouragement she needed the most and forgot to give her a chance to sing, but Asha still didn't give up..... It was during this time when she was still struggling that she got married to one Mr Bhosle who only added to her misery by his excessive drinking and having no financial resources and the stern condition that she would not mingle with her family. Asha tolerated his tantrums for some time and finally divorced him and Mr Bhosle even died shortly after, leaving Asha a widow with three growing up children, Hemant, Varsha and Anand. Asha had no other way out than to go back to her family and they not only forgot the past, but also gave her a large room in Prabhu Kunj where the whole family lived together Asha was slowly walking on her way to success with a style very different from Lata and some of the big music directors were only too willing to give her break, but hope kept telling Asha that she was made for bigger success and Asha like always listened to the advice and the inspiration given to her by hope from time to time.Asha was all set to cross another landmark when she happened to meet a new composer called O P Nayyar. They got along very well, they gave several hit songs in a row and were stars on their own. But, they had major differences and went their own way. Painfully, their separation led to the downfall and ultimately death of O P Nayyar and Asha never mentioned him even once in their story and did not even care to be present at the poorly attended funeral of Nayyar. She now has a chain of hotels all over the world called 'Asha's' and at the entrance of all these hotels, Asha has carefully arranged to have photographs of all composers, but there is no trace of Nayyar anywhere. The why of this mystery can only be answered by Asha Tai She next started singing almost exclusively for the young R D Burman. Their love for music led to their loving one another and they got married and were living in R D's Apartment in Santa Cruz and the good times didn't last long because R D stopped getting work and fell seriously sick from time to time. Asha was always by RD's bedside till he died and she was a widow once again. But she was a very brave widow and went about establishing her life and the life of her children.She was performing at a show in Singapore when she received the news of the death of hef musician - son Hemant Bhosle who died of cancer in Switzerland, but she didn't even stop the show for a few minutes and continued singing and swaying. The show must go on she said. Life took a break, but it was not a very long break. Her daughter Varsha, a very good writer in English was always battling with depression. She had some serious misunderstanding with her mother and had attempted suicide more than once and one evening when there was no one at home, she succeeded in taking her life.Clearly, she had committed suicide, but, Asha just stood near her body and stared at her face which was Asha's way of asking her countless questions which she couldn't ask her earlier. And now it was too late. Asha had moved out of Prabhu Kunj after' she lived for more than half a century and moved into Casagrande considered one of the most luxurious and expensive apartments in Mumbai and she even bought the next-door apartment for her sister Meena Khadikar, but all the luxuries and all the money could not give her the peace she wanted after living in turmoil for more than sixty years.She came back from a show only to know that Lataji was critically ill and the best doctors at Breach Candy Hospital were fighting her tough battle to save her life. She was at the hospital every day and evening and was very hopeful that her didi would fight back and come back from the jaws of death. She told the waiting press, ' woh bahut himatwaali hai, dekhna woh kuch hi ghanto phir waapis aayegi aur hum sab ke dilon ko behaalayegi ' . She was hoping against hope because her didi had taken a flight to eternity from where she would never return and the only thing about her that would keep alive were her thousands of songsOn April 24, Prime Minister Modi was to especially fly down to Mumbai to accept the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award. But, her son Anand Bhosle who now looks after her career and her business the world over had fallen sick seriously in Dubai and was fighting for life in one of the best hospitals in Dubai. Asha was needed by the bedside of Anand, but she took a flight to Mumbai to reach in time for the function were the Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award was to be presented to the Prime Minister for his spectacular contribution to the development of India. Asha was now 89 and she will be 90 on September 8 2022, but she stood at the center of the stage and made the best speech I heard in a long time praising her didi not as the greatest woman and the Bharat Ratna, but as her true elder sister who once used to carry her, play with her, call her a brainless girl and a Pathan, a girl was not scared of doing anything if it was to save the prestige of her family, the country and humanity.

ASHA JI HAI TOH ASHA HAI . ASHA HI NAHI HOGI, TOH ZINDAGI KYA KHAAK HOGI ?