Asha Bhosle: Testing time teaching us power of togetherness

"I am living with my family. I am with my son, daughter-in-law and my granddaughter, and we are having a great time together. We are not always on phone but sharing memories, seeing old photo albums and spending real time," Bhosle told IANS.

Spending time together this way brought back memories of her childhood. "When we were young, I, along with my siblings and my mother, used to spend such time together. After the demise of my father, our family saw a lot of tough times financially but the real happy time used to be when we would sing together, tell stories to each other. The fact is, money can buy you luxury but sukoon nahin… sukoon apno ke saath hai (not peace... peace is being with your loved ones)."

Born into a musical family on September 8 1933, music was an integral part of her life since childhood. Her father was renowned Marathi classical artiste Deenanath Mangeshkar. Her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar is another major musical influence in her life.

"The tough time is teaching us and reminding us of our very own traditional Indian culture that believes in living like a community, where we stand by each other. Our society, our family can only grow if we support each other. Earlier, we did not earn a lot of money but instead of cribbing about small income, we used to find happiness in small things. I think we have to go back to that search that we tend to overlook, because we were in a race to become overachievers," Bhosle emphasised.

She is quite excited to be actively participating in a lot of digital activity in daily life. "I think it is one of the great things that has happened over the last few years, where the government encouraged everyone to open their bank accounts and start money transaction online. During the lockdown, I just realised how helpful it has become because I can pay all my stuff. At least they can run their kitchen. In the troubled times, we all are fighting together," said Bhosle.

"That way our government, especially our Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi encouraged us to go digital and include technology as part of our lifestyle. I appreciate that," she added.

The National Award-winning singer launched her YouTube channel on May 13 and sung the song 'Main hoon', followed by the song 'Jayatu Jayatu Bharatam' with various artistes to lift the spirit of India.