LATAJI NE APNI JANAMDIN PAR DEV SAAB KE LIYE EK GAANA GAAYA AUR SIRF EK RUPAYA KA SIKKA MANGA

Coincidence have been a very strange and unusual part of my life. I can give you a hundred examples in a minute, but let me control myself and tell you about one coincidence which I can never ever forget - Ali Peter John

I was sitting with Lata Mangeshkar at Prabhu-Kunj before a large picture of Lord Ganesh and she was talking about the many heroes for whose films she had sung during her long career and she stopped when it came to Dev Anand and seems to have lost words in hindi or urdu and even marathi to describe him and finally said in hindi, " woh sach mein Dev hain, woh Dev manus hain, unmein Dev ki shakti hain aur dev ku spurti hain, Maine mere zindagi mein bahot se insaan dekhe hain, lekin Dev Anand jaisa koi dev nahin dekha" and she wiped a few tears from her eyes and touched the image of lord Ganesh and prayed for a long life for Dev Anand.

A few days later, Lataji's favorite photographer, Mohan Wagh called me to the Western Outdoor recording studio in Flora Fountain, where Lataji was recording a song for a new film of "Dev Saheb" and I didn't have to take the permission of my editor or my heart or my mind and just left for Flora Fountain which had just been named Hutatma chowk.

Dev was very excited to see me and apologized to me for not informing me about the recording, because he was too busy with other things "because a recording with Lata happens only once in a way and is like a festival"

Lataji and Dev sahab were so passionate about the song that it was recorded within two hours and before lunch time.

Lataji was in such hurry to leave the recording studio and when she met me, she asked me where Dev Saab was and before I could tell her where he was, she ran down the two floors, reached her car, got into his and thought that she would escape, but she didn't know the determined Dev Anand very well.

In the recording studio, Dev was running all over the place looking for Lataji. And when he reached me, he asked me if I had seen Lata leaving.

I told him frankly that I had seen her leaving in her white Fiat NE118 in the thick of the lunch time traffic on Flora Fountain...

Dev didn't stopped for a moment, but ran down the old wooden staircase and ran after the car of Lata like a man who was about to lose is most precious treasure.

He finally managed to halt Lata's car and there were at least 10,000 people all around eager to know what this high drama was all about...

Dev had brought with him a packet of currency notes which he normally paid Lataji after every recording.

He kept thrusting the packet into Lataji's hand and she refused to take it. Dev kept telling her that it was her money as she had earned it because of her talent and sincere work.

Dev refused to let Lata to move, till Lata told Dev, " maine aapse bahot kucch kamaya hain inn saare saalon mein..ab main aapse yeh paise leke kya karungi? "

Lata finally agreed to accept a one rupee coin from Dev and Dev didn't have the coin.

He requested me to go to his production manager and get the coin, which I brought back to Dev.

And Dev gave the coin to Lata, who touched Dev's feet in the presence of the very large crowd and Lata left for home at Prabhu Kunj and Dev left for the recording studio and the crowd still couldn't understand what was happening between the two legends of India in the midst of Hutatma Chowk, where historical events taking place was a way of life ever since the struggle for freedom and even after the new struggle for freedom.

WILL THIS GENERATION OR ANY OTHER GENERATION TO COME BE LUCKY TO WITNESSED ONE OF THE GREATEST HUMAN SCENES IN HISTORY???