Mangeshkar siblings pay homage to Tagore

The love for Bengal and the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore brought Mangeshkar siblings Lata, Asha, Usha, Hridaynath and Meena together for the first time outside their hometown Mumbai. "We don't go like this anywhere. You see us like this in Mumbai and not anywhere else. It is our love for Bengal that has brought us here together," Asha Bhonsle said.

Composer-singer Hridaynath Mangeshkar, her younger brother, said that he persuaded the sisters to pay homage to Tagore in this metropolis. "We have waited long to be together again. So, this time I asked them to come here. This is possible only in Kolkata and nowhere else," the 73-year-old told a gathering last night.

R D Burman's Bengali songs sung by Asha Bhosle like ''Mohuyae jomechhe aaj mou go'', ''Baanshi sune ki ghore thaka jaye'', ''Sondhya belae tumi aami'' and ''Aaj gun gungun gunje amar'' are till date popular among people.

Their younger brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, also a musician, had made musical genius Salil Chowdhury his guru. "I have followed him all my life. I have learnt so much from him and been influenced by him," he said.