She Almost Makes Me Want to Believe in the Possibility of Reincarnation

She is 76. She looks 60 at the most. Her hair is still jet black (may be dyed, but it doesn’t really matter.) She danced like there is no tomorrow…literally. She said, “I’m in limbo now…not deeply entangled in the worldly existence anymore, but not quite up there either. And when you reach the limbo, at least you no longer have any inhibition about dancing.” She enjoyed her dancing so much that, at rare moments, she overlooked that her voice was cracking because of breathlessness from the dancing. She almost forgot that thousands of fans filled the auditorium to listen to the singing legend that she is, not necessarily to watch her having a good time on stage—dancing, cracking jokes, and just being a diva with the characteristic innocent but starry tantrums.

I can't believe I am writing back-to-back fan posts, as my last blog was about admiring Shah Rukh Khan, but this blog forced itself out almost at midnight after I came back from Asha Bhosle’s live concert at Cupertino earlier tonight. I already knew that Asha is a prolific singer, but tonight I learnt that she has recorded 13,000 songs in her career, and counting! I had watched her perform live back in 1998 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. I was impressed even then when I came to know that she was 65, and still commanded the stage like a young, dynamic performer, who was definitely much more than just a singer. It was simply astonishing to see her tonight after twelve years, as if she has been frozen in time! She looked exactly the same. Her trademark diamond bracelet and the sequins on her brightly-hued saris still gleamed as dazzlingly as they did back then. She is still the vivacious ‘girl’ whose youth rubs off on you. That she can still sing ‘Piya tu ab to aaja,’ ‘Chura liya’ and ‘Mera kuchh samaan’ with ease was enough for me to sway with her music, overlooking the occasional off-key tonality. But, when I was coming out of the auditorium at the end of the concert, I did overhear a few teenagers complaining about being rather disappointed by Asha’s performance. I don’t blame them. They most likely didn’t grow up listening to new chart-buster numbers by Asha as we did. They may have heard her songs being played by their parents, or may have only heard the remixed versions of the originals sung by Asha herself, or some other cover-version artists. Recorded or re-engineered music often sounds more perfect, but lacks the soul of a live performance. The soul is something you connect with as a result of your collective memories and emotions associated with the songs. Unfortunately, the disappointed teenagers didn’t have that advantage. They just saw an old woman delivering an average performance and getting distracted by her own antics. My poor teenagers! One day your children will also come out disappointed from a Nick Jonas concert!

Well, for me, I did feel the soul tonight. The concert was totally worth spending more than half-an hour stuck in traffic trying to find a parking. The boom of the live orchestra resonating within my body, the wild shake-twist by the middle-aged silicon valley techie in my front seat, even Asha’s dancing, and her co-artist Sudesh Bhosle’s gentlemanly gesture of stealthily stretching his hand in case the singing and dancing diva trips by accident—every little thing worked for me. The ageless Asha almost made me want to believe in the concept of next life after this one, if I get to come back with half her talent and energy.