Every year Sep 28 becomes an exceptionally ambrosial day in South Mumbai. All the flowers in the city seem to head towards Prabhu Kunj, Lata Mangeshkar's residence on Peddar Road, but this year an eight-foot bouquet from a political leader stood apart.

"The volume of flowers was unbelievable. They stretched all the way from my door on the first floor to the lobby of my building. It was impossible to keep them all within my house. I sent a lot of them to our hospital in Pune," Lata said.

The one bouquet that she kept back in her house was eight-foot high, sent by none other than Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray.

"It was a wonderful gift, and so thoughtful...This has been a very hectic yet very fulfilling birthday for me. The wishes just kept pouring in. My cell phone never stopped ringing," Lata told.

Two of the earliest callers were BJP stalwarts L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Radio and television channels kept playing Lata's songs, interviews and tributes from well-wishers throughout the day.

"I thought the homage had touched a crescendo on my 75th birthday," the most famous voice in Asia laughs.

"I suppose the number of my well-wishers is going up. I couldn't be more blessed."

The phone calls started coming in since midnight from fans abroad.

As usual Lata had quietly shifted into a hotel for the day. Her kith and kin and close friends had planned a poolside party. But a death in the family kept the celebrations on a subdued scale.

"Ideally I'd have liked to keep it completely low-key. But there are people to whom you can't say no. Besides, they had a little party at my hospital in Pune, so they said it would be inauspicious to cancel all the arrangements in Mumbai," she said.

Lata is overwhelmed by the love she has received from her well-wishers. "Frankly I don't like to be reminded of my age every year. But everyone around me seems to feel it's a special occasion. So I join in."

She then goes nostalgic. "I still remember those special birthdays as a child when I'd get into my new frock and my mother would make sweets...All of us would join in for the celebration.

"I've never stopped being that child who enjoyed her birthday. In fact I've kept the child within alive to this day. When I became my family's sole bread-earner at the tender age of 12, I'd go out to the studios, do my work like a professional. And come home to play with my dolls. Now I don't play with dolls. But that child is still alive."