My first recording fee was Rs 100: Asha Bhosale

Mumbai is a city of dreams, dreams which come true. I have spent nearly eight decades in the music industry and my career began in Mumbai, so the city will always remain special for me. In a way, this city has been instrumental in supporting our family in very tough times since didi was supporting the whole family.

I still remember receiving my first Rs 100 for a recording. I had only imagined going to a posh hotel in Grant Road. When I went there for the first time with my husband to have coffee and snacks, I was thrilled. It was such a simple thing, but I will always cherish it. Today, whenever I pass that stretch, that memory flashes across my mind.

Very early on, Mumbai taught me, without me realising it, to enjoy the small things in life. It can be something seemingly mundane like a batata vada or bhel being made at the street side, but these are joys which make life in this fast-paced city bearable.

I got married very young and began working at an early age to support my children. In the 1950s, I used to live in Borivli in a chawl. I remember doing household chores, locking up the children inside the house and leaving for work with a request to the neighbours to keep an eye on the house and the children.

I would leave early morning by local and do the rounds looking for work. I have always enjoyed watching the city wake up. Mumbai is a late riser, but the energy in this city is commendable. The locals would be less crowded as compared to today, but there were fewer trains. Do you know there was a third class too? Not-so-well-off people like me travelled in it. Now we don’t officially have the third class. I would take trams and trains as they were cheap. With a 0.75 paise minimum fare, taxis were a luxury one could hardly afford. 

In a city where everybody is struggling to make ends meet, it's very touching to find sympathy and support. I will always remember how caring fellow commuters were. Mumbaikars always thought about the other person. Sadly, we are losing that as we get caught in this fast-paced life.

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