A few years ago, I was asked if I was interested in writing a book. Being a bit of a masochist and willing to try and do more than I was already squishing into a workday, I agreed, albeit cautiously, since the still sane voice of reason did occasionally wander in and slap me on the head. Before 1 knew what was happening, I not only had a literary agent, but also a book contract. The book that I had so rashly signed on to write was aimed to be a profile of the well-known singer, Asha Bhosle.
After a first rudimentary attempt at writing a few chapters, I had to have a deep think and get to a more sustained and determined exploration of my subject. I would write about Asha Bhosle as seen by people who had worked with her or knew her, I decided, thereby profiling her through her career and her music, especially the non-filmi version. The process, I assumed, would not be that difficult.
It was not that hard, indeed; it became almost impossible, frustrating, annoying and even funny at times. There were people who agreed to talk to me and then either vanished or were stricken with sudden illness. An infamously outspoken filmmaker agreed to chat and then refused to remember that he had spoken with me. A composer was enthusiastic and set a date and time for a meeting and then changed his phone number. A well-known poet refused me a conversation when he learned that I had not met or interviewed the subject of the book, who was very dear to him. There were some who, although not willing to talk to me themselves, were kind enough to suggest someone else, and give me their contact details. Hilariously, a famous ghazal singer in Pakistan responded amiably, but wanted me to renew his Tata Sky account before he would talk to me! And as all this was happening, I was reading interviews, articles, news reports, social media anything that popped up on Google, in conversation with people, in magazines and newspapers, on TV or even on the radio. I heard more film music than I had ever done and developed a weird taste for Indi-pop that I never thought I would. My driver, a fan, diligently listened to a radio show on which he had heard a story about Asha that he told me about; wherever he drove me to, we listened to that particular show and learned a lot from it about people I was never going to write about.
Then there were people who were friendly, communicative and extraordinarily helpful. Lesle Lewis talked to me for hours about Asha, let me put my sore feet up on his studio couch and sang songs from a still-to-release album for me. Atul Churamani not only gave me the information I needed, but gave me lunch and something I cherish far more a friend. Shujaat Khan flew in to the city for a concert, spent time with me talking about Asha, put me in touch with his delightful wife Parveen who told me about shopping trips and junk food she shared with the diva and agreed to be interviewed again for a new website on music without asking what happened to the book. Usha Uthup came out of the recording studio, agreed to be spoken to, said a few apropos words and then disappeared, appearing again to ask a couple of years later why I had not done a full interview and got more from her. Sonu Nigam was strangely elusive and then made me change my fulminating mind on his professionalism by responding to my questions and singing for me, all on WhatsApp! Boy George, from whose album covers I had learned to use eye make-up, replied to my email and told me about his experience with Asha I was so excited by this unexpected response that I woke up various people in various parts of the world to tell them about it! And then, a man whom I consider a friend even though we have never met: Ken Hunt. He was generous in his sharing and even more so in his caring. He talked to me mostly on email and WhatsApp, a couple of times on the phone about Asha, his own work with her, his writing, his music, his cooking, his family, even his tortoises. There were so many more like this, giving, encouraging, hugely helpful, from Poonam Dhillon. Mahesh Kodiyal and Ameen Sayani to Hrishikesh Kannan, Ken Ghosh, Sumit Dutt, Rajan Shahi, Aman Arora, Anjali Mathur, Brahmanand Singh, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Kumar Sanu, Longinus Fernandes, Madhulika Liddle, Mandar Bichu, Manish Purohit, Manohar lyer, Mukesh Batra, Narendra Kusnur, Parveen Khan, Rajeev Masand, S. Ramachandran, Satish Chopra, Shamir Tandon and Yogen Shah. There were others who helped with phone numbers, contacts, suggestions and chocolate, like Aditya Raj Kapoor, Ananth Padmanabhan, Dhiren Trivedi, Dominic Ferrao, Indu Mirani, Krithika R, Letty Maria Abraham, Neeta Kolhatkar, Nina Rao, Prathamesh Jadhav, Rachana Parekh, Ritu Ferrao, Rocky Mohan, Roshmila Bhattacharya, Suresh Gopale, Suresh Nair and Vivek Kapoor.
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