With Jai Hind, Asha Tai accorded final farewell

The Mumbai police presented ‘shok-shatra’ and sounded the Last Post bugle followed by three rifle-shots in the air.

Mumbai: A sea of humanity poured into the streets as commoners joined celebrities and the who’s who — to bid a tearful adieu to iconic singer Asha Bhosle, who regaled audiences with melodious numbers for eight decades and made a special place in their homes.

Asha Tai, as she was popularly known passed away on Sunday, aged 92, at the Breach Candy Hospital following multi-organ failure triggered by pulmonary issues and heart attack.

The last rites were held at the Shivaji Park crematorium in Dadar on Monday evening with the Maharashtra government according state-honours.

In the morning, the body was kept at the her residence in the Casa Grande complex at the Senapati Bapat Marg at Lower Parel where people from various walks of life, family and friends paid tributes.

Draped in the national flag, the body was taken in a cortege from Casa Grande to Shivaji Park where commoners joined the procession amidst chants of ‘Asha Tai amar rahe’.

The while vehicle was adorned with white and yellow flowers and a large photograph of her sporting a traditional Maharashtrian ‘nath’ (nose-ring).

At the crematorium, an announcement was made that Asha Tai’s last wish was a farewell with Jai Hind.

As per the family's wishes, Chapter 9 of the Bhagwat Gita — which teaches that the divine is both immanent and transcendent, and that sincere devotion (bhakti) is the simplest and highest path to realize God — was recited.

The Mumbai police presented ‘shok-shatra’ (reverse arms in mourning position) and sounded the Last Post bugle followed by three rifle-shots in the air.

The national tricolour was handed to her son Anand Bhosle, who lit the funeral pyre.

Singer Sudesh Bhosale sang a couple of lines from the iconic song - ‘haste gate jahan se guzar,..duniya ki tu parvah na ka…zindagi ek safar hai suhana’ - from the 1971 romantic-drama film Andaz which followed bhajan maestro Anup Jalota’s rendition of ‘ud jaayega hans akelaa'.

Thereafter, people sang - ‘abhi na jao chhod kar…ki dil abhi bhara nahi’ — the superhit song from Hum Dono starring the romantic evergreen hero Dev Anand and Sadhana.

Residents of chawls and buildings along the route of the funeral cortege gathered to catch a final glimpse of the legend, showering flowers on the vehicle as it made its way through the narrow road amid heavy police deployment.

At the funeral, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar were present.

Fadnavis placed a wreath on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and on behalf of the Maharashtra government.

Outside the building complex where she resided, many of the celebrities and icons who visited broke down including Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali. As a matter of fact, Sachin was named after S D Burman, the father of Asha Bhosle’s husband R D Burman.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his wife Rashmi and MNS President Raj Thackeray and his wife Sharmila were present. In fact, Rashmi broke down at the Bhosle residence. The Thackerays share very good relations with the Mangeshkar-Bhosle family.

Asha Bhosle’s sister Meena Khadikar was present at the Casa Grande while sister Usha Mangeshkar attended the funeral at Shivaji Park.