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Lata Mangeshkar kept herself away from the media glare and was known to be a very private person. However in a rare long conversation, she answered all queries posed by Nasreen Munni\u00a0 Kabir in a candid way<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Lata Mangeshkar passed away, leaving back those everlasting songs and also all of those known and unknown and little-known aspects to her personality. She kept herself far away from the media glare and was known to be a very\u00a0 private person, interacting with only close\u00a0 friends and family.<\/p>\n To know more about her, the last two days I have been re-reading this volume on her \u2013 \u2018Lata Mangeshkar\u2026In her own voice. Conversations with Nasreen Munni\u00a0 Kabir\u2019(Niyogi Books). Very readable, it is a detailed conversation flowing along so very effortlessly between the two, Lata Mangeshkar and Nasreen Munni Kabir.<\/p>\n All possible aspects to her personal and professional life are there in this volume as part of the long conversation. She answers all queries put forth by Kabir, in that rather candid way. And though one is tempted to quote extensively but space constraints come in way, so will keep to the most significant quotes of Lata Mangeshkar.<\/p>\n On the controversy about her supposedly strained relationship with her sister Asha Bhosle, she has this to say in this volume: \u201cAsha and I have always been close and still are. In 1947, when she was only fourteen, she wanted to marry a neighbour of ours, Ganpatrao Bhosle, who was a ration inspector. Mai was completely against the marriage. So Asha left home and married against Mai\u2019s wishes. Mai was most unhappy \u2026Once Asha was married her husband did not want her to do anything with us. She wasn\u2019t allowed to see us or write to us. This was the situation for years\u2026Asha suffered a lot during those years. She finally left her husband in 1960\u2026It\u2019s wrong to talk of rivalry having spoilt our relationship. We are sisters and neighbours. We talk to each other and eat together. If either of us has a problem, we tell each other. And if we have something to celebrate, we celebrate together.\u201d<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n On what upsets Lata Mangeshkar: \u201cI am usually quite patient. But when I hear anyone saying something that I know to be a lie, I get angry. I might not let on and usually go quiet, but inside I am angry when people lie. I can\u2019t say\u00a0 I\u2019m a\u00a0 great reader of\u00a0 character but\u00a0 I can\u00a0 tell when someone is\u00a0 genuine\u00a0 or not. I may not get it 100\u00a0 per cent right, maybe 75\u00a0 per cent\u2026Another thing that really\u00a0 makes me angry\u00a0 is when\u00a0 I\u00a0 hear someone sing\u00a0 out of tune.\u00a0 I can\u2019t stand it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n On the query of Hindus and\u00a0 Muslims working together in the film\u00a0 industry, she\u00a0 said: \u201cYes, we all\u00a0 worked together\u00a0 – there were\u00a0 Hindus and\u00a0 Muslim\u00a0 music\u00a0 directors, lyricists,\u00a0 singers. Sometimes we discussed why Hindus and Muslims fought with one another. We are the same. We are the same colour and the same race. So why?\u00a0 Naushad sahib considered me like his younger sister; he never saw me as different. I spent a lot of time with Majrooh sahib and his family; I never thought of them to be different. We were never divided on religious ground. We never felt any tension between us because some were\u00a0 Hindu and others Muslim. Yet, there was a lot of communal tension around us\u00a0 in those early days. In 1946, terrible riots broke out in Bombay. We were so worried, to the extent that Mai decided to take us all to\u00a0 Kolhapur\u00a0 where we stayed in Master Vinayak\u2019s house. But it wasn\u2019t long before we returned to\u00a0 Bombay\u2026.For me\u00a0 there is no\u00a0 difference\u00a0 between Hindu and Muslim. I didn\u2019t see a difference then nor do I see it now. I see the person. If\u00a0 I don\u2019t like a\u00a0 person, I\u00a0 just don\u2019t\u00a0 like him\u00a0 or her. But\u00a0 my\u00a0 likes and\u00a0 dislikes\u00a0 have\u00a0 nothing\u00a0 to do with them\u00a0 being Hindu, Muslim,\u00a0 Sikh\u00a0 or\u00a0 Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n On asked\u00a0 how\u00a0 important\u00a0 is\u00a0 religion to her, she\u00a0 detailed: \u201cI\u00a0 believe in God and everyone in the\u00a0 family\u00a0 does too. Whatever we have is thanks to His\u00a0 benevolence. No matter what you choose to call Him:\u00a0 Allah, Ishwar or God. He gives everything to us. I always bow before God and say: \u2018You have granted me everything.\u2019\u00a0 I can never forget this. I pray in the morning and at night before I sleep\u2026.I prefer silence to talking these days. I\u2019m not always in a mood to talk. I am home most of the time. I listen to music and read. If I feel like talking to someone, I telephone a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n When asked about her not marrying, remaining single, so maybe lonely,<\/p>\n She said : \u201cNo , not really. Remember I have always lived with my family. I grew up in my family. When I was young I had many responsibilities but I was always made to feel like a protected child. It was Mai who was the eldest in the family and it was she who looked after us all. She was only thirty-six or thirty- seven when my father died. She was a very peaceful person, tolerant and patient. When she passed away in 1995,I felt\u00a0 her\u00a0 loss\u00a0 deeply. It was then I became the head of the family. I had to grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n On whether she had ever met Mahatma Gandhi, she replied: \u201cNo, but I heard him speak at a public gathering at Shivaji Park and at Chowpatty\u00a0 in Bombay\u00a0 in the\u00a0 early 1940s. He made a great impression on us and on everyone who was there. We had tremendous respect for Gandhiji and also for Jai Prakash Narayan too. But I had no interest in politics then and nor do politics interest me know.\u201d<\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n On does she remember where was she on 14 August 1947 – the day India\u00a0 gained\u00a0 Independence? ******<\/p>\n On whether Lata had an inkling of soaring such heights of fame and success. There is this dream detailed right at the start of the volume.<\/p>\n In fact, right in the Introduction to this book, Kabir starts off detailing this particular dream: \u201cLata\u00a0 Mangeshkar\u00a0 remembers a dream that returned to her every single night when she was\u00a0 in her early\u00a0 twenties. Coming home from recording two songs in the\u00a0 morning, two in the afternoon, two in the evening, she would fall asleep and\u00a0 the dream\u00a0 unfurled: it\u00a0 is\u00a0 early\u00a0 morning and she finds\u00a0 herself all alone\u00a0 at a\u00a0 black-stoned\u00a0 temple by the sea. Unaware of the deity associated with the temple, she makes her way through the sacred space. At the back of the temple there is a door. She opens it and sees a few steps leading from the door to the dappled water. She sits on the stone steps and the waves gently wash over her feet\u2026Young Lata\u00a0 thought nothing of the dream but when it reoccurred night after night, and for several months, she decided to share it with her\u00a0 mother, Shudhhamati\u00a0 Mangeshkar, who\u00a0 listened\u00a0 quietly to her and\u00a0 said: \u2018God\u00a0 has blessed you. You will be very famous one day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lata Mangeshkar kept herself away from the media glare and was known to be a very private person. However in a rare long conversation, she answered all queries posed by Nasreen Munni\u00a0 Kabir in a candid way Lata Mangeshkar passed away, leaving back those everlasting songs and also all of those known and unknown and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,15128,2205],"tags":[2457],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335755,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335752\/revisions\/335755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/335754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Humra-Quraishi-ShLata-siblings.jpg\")
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\n\u201cWe were at home and in the evening we all went out to see the lights. There was much rejoicing on the streets and a great feeling of happiness. It was a big day.\u201d<\/p>\n