WOH AAJ KAL JANNAT MEIN JASHN JASHN HAI , AUR JANNAT KABHI ITNI KHOOBSURAT KABHI NAHI LAGI .... BY ALI PETER JOHN

I remember that evening at Prabhu Kunj when I had a dream - like talk with Lataji and during our long talk over cups of hot tea , we had talked about various subjects , but I was surprised when she asked me , " Ali tum sapne dekhte ho " and I had told her " Lataji , meri zindagi hi ek kabhi khatam na honewaala ek sapna hai " and she was curious to know what my dreams were about - Ali Peter John

And when I gave her a description of some of my dreams , she said ,. " "aap apne sapno ke baare mein likhte kyo nahi ? " I told her it was my dream to write about my dreams and publish them in a book which I would like her to release.

She promised me all the help I needed to write the book and that she would make all efforts to make my book launch a very grand affair .

I got busy facing and fighting the realities of life and she got lost in her own world which I always felt was the most beautiful world in the universe , even though she didn't agree with me and said , "logo ko meri zindagi acchi lagti hai , lekin unko kya pata ki Lata Mangeshkar ke andar ki duniya mein kya kya khalbali hoti hai "

And she fulfilled one of my best dreams when she not only volunteered to release my book on "Molly" based on my first love , but also saw to it that the book was released at a function organised in her house and even had guests like Manoj Kumar and his wife Shashi . It was one of my greatest privileges

And little did I know that my last meeting with her would be at "Swarlata" , a recording studio cum bungalow in the Mhada area in Andheri West . She was recording a song under the supervision of music director Ram - Laxman .

The song was sounding so much like the title song of "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" and when I told her about the resemblance , she had said ,. " mujhe maaloom hai , main ye gaana sirf Ram - Laxman ke liye gaa rahi hoon kyoonki uski haalat acchi nahi hai ".

She sang the song till she was satisfied and got into her simple NE 118 car and left and little did I know that the meeting at Swarlata would be our last meeting . She started falling sick regularly and was confined to her room and I broke my foot and couldn't travel long distances . But I had not given up my dream of meeting her again ....and again .

Her health began deteriorating and she was first admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital, where she showed signs of recovering and was sent back home only to be rushed back to hospital again and doctors tried their best to save her , but what could she do when every organ in her body betrayed her and she had to surrender to the dark forces of death which doesn't spare any one who had lived.

She was given a state funeral with her frail body wrapped in the tricolour and given a grand gun salute before she was cremated at the Shivaji Park and the smoke that leaped up from the fire that was consuming her was as white as the whitest of snow.

That morning I wrote a piece with all the pieces of my heart describing her first day in heaven .... I was very sure that she would appear in my dreams on the night of February 6 and I was right . Lataji was the subject of my dreams that night....

She appeared to me in her usual white saari , but she had a glorious shine on her face which even God didn't have and she had the best white mogra flowers in her hair and the bindi on her forehead was intact ....

She kept giving me a running commentary about her second day in jannat and as she kept describing her meetings and happenings in jannat , her face kept growing brighter and I could see God looking at her with pride from jannat

She told me that she was jubilant to meet her parents , Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and Mai for whom God had built a tent made of pure gold , the kind of gold that could only be found in jannat.

She had a very emotional and tearful meeting with them and had dinner with them which was the bhaakhar chutney which they used to eat when they lived in Poona during their early days .

She then told me about all the other music composers like Madan Mohan who she called Madan Bhaya while they were on earth , C Ramchandra , Kalyanji - Anandji , And all all the other composers and their assistants and she said she was happy meeting them because she could always sing for them even in jannat ..

As Lataji walked through the main roads of jannat , she saw jannat being decorated under the supervision of God with all the best clouds , the sun , the moon and the stars invited to celebrate her arrival in jannat .

There was singing and dancing , angels singing her best songs and the composers of jannat playing the best instruments which she had not seen during her eighty one year old career as the maharani of melody , the party lasted all night and Lataji sat through the night which is something she had never done on earth.

That night of the amazing celebrations , even God and all the heavenly beings got high on heavenly whiskey and God waltzed with her for the first time in his rule as God.

At the end of the reception , God asked Lataji if she would like to return to earth and be the same Lata Mangeshkar again and she said ,. " "maine mere logo ko bahut kuch diya hau kyoonki unhone mujhe itna pyaar diya ki main uss pyaar ko mere aachal mein sama nahi sakti hoon .

Mere Bhagwan , abb main baaki ke zindagi yahin par aapke saath , pariyon ke saath aur mere dosto ke saath jeena chaahati hoon "

AUR PHIR BHAGWAN NE APNA HAATH LATAJI KE SAR PAR RAKH KAR "TATAASTU " KAHA, AUR SAARA JANNAT TAALIYON SE GOONJNE LAGA JISKI AWAAZ SAARE KAAYNAAT MEIN SANGEET BAN KAR EK AMAR GEET BAN GAYA