Asha Bhosle was once almost hit by a train

Mumbai: The legendary singer Asha Bhosle - who passed away here aged 92 on April 12 - once lived far from the arc lights of fame, in the distant north-west suburb of Borivali, in the early 1950s, when she was still a struggling artist finding her voice.

In those difficult days, she developed an enduring affection for the humble trains. When buses and taxis were beyond her means, Asha-tai relied on the Western Railway’s suburban locals, travelling across the city for her recording assignments.

Reaching the Borivali station itself was no small task. Faced with a long detour, she often chose a shortcut - a risky trudge across the railway tracks and it was this ‘trespassing’ that once almost cost her life.

Recalling the terrifying episode at a public function nearly 25 years ago, Asha-tai shuddered: “It was monsoon season and pouring. I had covered my head with a rain-coat and was walking on the tracks. Because of the heavy rains, I could barely hear anything. A steam engine of an Ahmedabad-bound train was coming from behind, whistling desperately - but I remained oblivious. I was almost a goner… Suddenly, there was either a push or I myself stumbled and fell off the tracks. Seconds later, the train rushed past me at full speed, still whistling furiously.”

She later described her survival from the brush with death as nothing short of a miracle – probably, an act of divine intervention. “Perhaps, the Almighty wanted me to sing more for all of you, so I survived…” she said, with her trademark mischievous laughter, reflecting on that little-known chapter of her early life.

Love for Trains

Despite the dangers, her love for trains only deepened. The multi-faceted crooner delightfully mimicked the “cooing” whistles of the old steam engines - “very pleasing,” she would say - and contrasted them with the “ghonn-ghonn” honks of modern-day trains, which she found far less charming.

Asha-tai vividly recreated the hustle-bustle of a typical Indian railway platform: “There are vendors chanting, ‘Garrram Batata Vada, Chaiiii…!’ The taste on railway platforms - you won’t find it even in big hotels. If you want to experience that ‘chatpata’ flavour on the move, then you must travel by trains,” she urged, breaking into imitations that left audiences in splits.

Emphasizing her love for the monsters on the railway tracks, she even sang a few lines from her own popular Marathi folk song, “Mamachya Gavala Jauya…” (1963), bringing alive the romantic spirit of India’s train journeys.

Asha-tai, an avid train traveller, said trains were more than transport - they were a window to India. “To know India, you must travel by trains. They are a melting pot of cultures, you meet people of different religions and from multiple states, they are full of love and teach us a lot in life. A person who has not travelled by trains has seen nothing,” she said.

“I have travelled all over India - starting in Third Class, then Second Class, and as I progressed, First Class. I made my children travel also in trains everywhere,” on her own romance with train journeys.

When admirers likened her voice to that of Goddess Saraswati, she gently nudged and corrected them: “There is no comparison. Where Goddess Saraswati sets her foot, perhaps a little dust has fallen on me…”

A Fragmented Past, A Family Reunited

Acclaimed singer Usha Mangeshkar, 90, retains only hazy memories of her elder sister Asha Bhosle’s Borivali years - a period that followed her elopement and marriage to Ganpatrao Bhosle in 1949. The couple lived through a difficult phase, cut off from the Mangeshkar family and it was in Borivali that their first son, Hemant, was born.

“Asha and Ganpat spent a few years there, but it was never really discussed openly in the family… I was too small to remember much,” Usha told ‘The Perfect Voice’.

Years later, Asha returned to the family fold, first to their Dadar home, where her daughter Varsha was born and her ‘naamkaran’ (naming) ceremony was celebrated with great joy by all. As her marriage with Ganpatro floundered on the rocks, Asha reached out to her elder estranged eldest sister, Lata Mangeshkar, leading to a reconciliation.

Around 1953, Asha-tai eventually moved back to the family residence in Walkeshwar, where her third son Anand was born. Usha Mangeshkar remembers that phase with warmth. By then, Lata Mangeshkar had become a towering figure in music, supported the entire family, and magnanimously purchased separate homes for her siblings in south Mumbai.

“Even Ganpatrao (died 1966) was also a very nice person. His children - Hemant, Varsha and Anand - were raised very well. Gradually, all of us began living together again as a happy family,” Usha said in an emotional voice.