Feb 24, 2022, at 07:16 pm
India's melody Queen, late Lata Mangeshkar, is no more with us. I recall my 29 November 2002 meeting with her when I was on the same Sahara Airlines flight to Mumbai that night. Lata ji had come to Kolkata on an invitation from Dona Ganguly for her Diksha Manjari School. In fact it was Lata ji who had introduced me to Dona. I saw Lata ji entering the airport lounge with her niece Rachna. In those days I used to write articles for a Hindi weekly magazine called Sabrang. I had done quite a few interviews with known personalities as a hobby and had few bylines to my credit. While on flight, instead of asking verbally, I mustered up the courage to write a note to Lata ji requesting to ask her a few questions, knowing very well that she was a very private person and usually kept to herself - away from the media and crowds, writes Sundeep Bhutoria