Lata Mangeshkar talks about her unfulfilled dreams on her 88th birthday 

Sab ko bahot bahot shukriya. Aur mera pranaam. (Thanks a lot to all and my greetings). It is  the best wishes  of my well wishers and fans of my songs that has brought me so far. I never cease to be humbled by how kind and generous God has been to me. Even today my songs are hummed and loved.  Who gets this kind of love and affection for such an uninterrupted span of time.

Kehna mushqil hai (hard to say).  When I was still singing on stage, the songs most in demand were Ae mere watan ke logon, Aayega aanewala (Mahal), Pyar kiya to darna  kya (Mughal-e-Azam), Bindiya chamkegi (Do Raaste) and so many others. But now I see so many of my other songs are gaining a special popularity.

Yes! That song is really popular. When Madan Bhaiyya (composer Madan Mohan) and I recorded it we never imagined that it would  be hummed and re-mixed  55-60  years later. There were other very good Ghazals in the same film, like Jo humne dastaan apni sunayi aap kyon roye. But it was ‘Lag ja gale se’  jo aage  nikal padi (which raced ahead). Who knows what destiny has in store?

Legend? I really don’t know about that. When I started working I was very young. For a girl of 15-16 to go out there on her own was…well, yes, it was difficult. But somehow, I  escaped the difficulties that a majority of working girls face. No one looked at me in a strange way or did anything to make me feel uncomfortable.

My adolescence. Mein seedhe bachpan se jawani mein chali gayi. (I went straight from my childhood to youth). After my father passed away, I became the sole bread earner of the family.  There was no time to do all the normal things that children do as they grow up. One day I was playing dolls. The next day I was on a train looking for  opportunities to sing at various recording studios.

No. I think I was lucky. I found my voice in the entertainment business pretty  quickly. But it was a lot of hard. A LOT of hard work. It wasn’t easy. I missed my father’s presence. He left us too soon. If I had one thing to rectify in my life, it would be the early departure of my father. He never saw what I achieved.

(Promptly) Not being able to do enough practice of Hindustani classical music. I missed doing that riyaaz. I learnt classical Hindustani singing from my father. But he left too early. And I was too small to understand the value of what he was teaching me.  I’d be running way from him to play while he would try to get me to sit and learn music. I was a very naughty child.

But that is filmy classical. Not the same as pure classical singing. The sheer pleasure of  being on a live stage with a tanpura doing classical vocals for two hours…I missed out on that.

Tamil and Russian. The Tamil language was really difficult for me to handle. I would  note down all the lines in English and then master their pronunciation, as they are very particular about the accent and diction. Singing in Russian on stage was my other big challenge. It was tough. My Russian songs are not to be found anywhere, as they (in Russia) did not allow my renderings to be recorded. What I sang on stage remained there only.

There  were many. But the one that really stood out was for Naushad saab in Baiju  Bawra. It  was the song Dur koi gaye dhun yeh sunaye with Shamshad Begum. The set  to shoot this dance number had been put up. I had not been able to record the song because I was out of town. Naushad Saab rang me up and said, ‘Aap bas aa jayiye. Hum  record karenge aur woh gana shoot karenge.’ At first, I didn’t understand what he  meant. What he was saying was, they were were waiting to get the song on the set. I had to fly back, record the song and then they were to shoot the song. This was very unusual.

Yes, there was no time to rehearse, Shamshad ji had already sung her portions. Everything was done. Only I had to sing. There was no time to lose.  It had to be a one-take recording.  I asked Naushad Saab if he thought I could do it. ‘Tum kar paogi,’ ( you can do it), he was confident.

Yes, I did. Faith can move mountains. If composers didn’t believe in my ability, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I did.

Riyaaz. Learn Indian classical singing. And continue to be a student of music all your life. There are no short cuts to success.