Singer Anup Jalota on the heart scare wife Medha suffered and beginning life anew, and for the second time with an American heart!
When Anup Jalota sang the lines, “Main tasavvur bhi judai ka bhala kaise karoon? Maine kismet ki lakeeron se churaya hai tujhe,” to wife Medha sitting in the audiences, a year after her heart transplant surgery, it was a watershed moment for the couple.
It was Anup’s determination that took Medha to the US for the rare treatment and give her a second life with the transpanted heart of a 20-year-old. Anup says with characteristic humour, “I married an Indian woman who now has an American heart. And after that she has started calling me ‘Darling’.”
Life vs death
The couple went through much turmoil in 2001 when doctors gave Medha just a month to live. “Medha said, ‘let’s go to Switzerland, spend time there and I’ll die peacefully’. But I took her to the US instead to get her a new heart. She stayed in the hospital for two years!
But not once did we lose hope!” recalls Anup. Those days, Anup travelled to New York four times a month, balancing it with shows and looking after their son Aryaman. “Love means doing anything for each other,” he reasons.
Medha’s merits
Anup, who was married twice before he married Medha, says, “She made me complete. I was a man. She made me a husband and a father. I have a family, which I never had before. After my concerts I fly down immediately to be at home with her.”
He adds emotionally, “Medha says that she feels confident and respected when she walks with me. This is something a husband can give his wife. The respect is all due to my music, nothing else. I’m not a very rich man!”
Anup values Medha because she wants him to be ‘correct’. “She can’t see me do any gadbad in income tax and urges me to do the most for my parents,” reveals Anup adding, “Medha doesn’t enjoy my bhajans or ghazals, but loves it when I do classical riyaz.”
‘Son’ny days
Anup relates an incident that highlights his son’s early-acquired sensitivity, “Aryaman had come to the US, while Medha was being treated and visited his cousin’s school there.
When asked to say something about himself, Aryaman said, ‘I’ve not come to have fun. My mom has had a heart transplant. I’m here to thank the person who died but left her his heart!” Quiz Anup, whether he’d be game to donate his heart and he asserts, “Of course!”
Medha’s Musings
Anup has brought me immense peace. I was a very restless person earlier.
Contrary to his serious image of a bhajan singer, he has a great sense of humour and enjoyment. When I was being treated in the US and when everything was falling apart, we still had fun.
Even after 12 years of marriage, he pays me compliments. He’s interested in what I’m wearing or what jewellery I’ll be purchasing.
Anup’s very progressive. Whether it’s attending the PTA meetings in Aryaman’s school or making tea in a hotel room, he does it all.
He treats everybody with respect — from a junior musician to the senior most people like Pandit Jasraj.
k_farhana@dnainda.net
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