Twitter
Advertisement

5 yrs, over 5K kms & hours of wait but no meeting with idol

Shaikh five when his mother showed him 'Kachche Dhaage'. This was his first tryst with Lata Didi's songs.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Samir Shaikh, a 25-year-old, who does odd jobs for a living, travels all the way from Parbhani in the Marathwada region to Mumbai's Pedder Road, with a blind hope of meeting Lata Mangeshkar. It was her 89th birthday on Friday.

What sets Shaikh apart from other fans who gather outside her Pedder Road residence, Prabhu Kunj, is that they leave after waiting for only half an hour. However, Shaikh waits endlessly, even skipping meals. He claims he has followed this routine for five birthdays now.

Barring 2015, when he chose to skip his annual pilgrimage owing to the demise of Hemant Bhosle (Asha Bhosle's son), Shaikh claims to have stood outside Prabhu Kunj till late on every night of September 29.

Shaikh five when his mother showed him 'Kachche Dhaage'. This was his first tryst with Lata Didi's songs.

"I have no favourite song of her. I like all her songs and listen to them as and when I can," Shaikh says. He gets particularly touched by 'Ek pyaar ka nagma hain', a song his mother used to hear often.

"In my third standard textbook there was a lesson about Lata Mangeshkar's life and her early struggle. That was the first time I saw her picture. My mother used to play Lata Didi's songs on a tape recorder early in the morning when the water arrived in the tap and I learnt to differentiate her voice from Asha tai's and other singers. Not only have I heard all the songs that she has sung but also have read each and every interview given by her," he says.

Shaikh reaches Mumbai in a shared taxi from Pune, where his sister lives. He borrows money from her. "I haven't been anywhere else in Mumbai," he adds.

"Many important people visit Lata tai on her birthday, so not wanting to interfere, I always came here on the day after her birthday. But last year her assistant, who recognises me by my face, said that I had a chance of seeing her on her birthday itself, so this year I have come on the 28th. I don't mind waiting. In 2016, I even slept on the footpath," says a hopeful Shaikh. Since he is unemployed at the moment, he borrowed money for travel and a bouquet of flowers from his sister.

"It was my mother's wish to meet her. I told her I also want to meet her. She had said that get educated and become a successful person as Lata ji meets only such people. But after my mother's death 10 years ago, I couldn't complete my education." he says.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement