Asha Bhosle answers the Proust questionnaire

1.What is your idea of perfect happiness? 
Even the most ordinary day can become extraordinary when my family is around me, but as a happy memory I can recollect being cuddled and pampered by my doting father.
2.What is your greatest fear? 
Being alone in the middle of the Ocean.
3.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? 
Losing my temper.
4.What is the trait you most deplore in others? 
Show offs.
5.Which living person do you most admire? 
Me.
6.What is your greatest extravagance? 
Caviar.
7.What is your current state of mind? 
Cool, calm, happy, peaceful and collected but it can change as the day progresses.
8.What do you most dislike about your appearance? 
Nothing.
9.What is the quality you most like in a man? 
Generosity.
10.What is the quality you most like in a woman? 
True Motherhood.
11.Which words or phrases do you most overuse? 
"Once more" when I am recording or "is the salt okay" when I'm cooking.
12.What or who is the greatest love of your life? 
Music has been and shall remain my eternal true love and companion.
13.When and where were you happiest? 
When I become a Mother and all those moments spent in recording studios.
14.Which talent would you most like to have? 
Being a linguist.
15.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 
I would like to control my quick temper. Having said that, I have managed to do so in recent years and for which I am quite proud.
16.What do you consider your greatest achievement? 
Singing in perfect tune in an impossible octave.
17.If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? 
Asha Bhosle all over again.
18.What is your most treasured possession? 
Forgiveness.
19.What is your most marked characteristic? 
Honesty.
20.What do you most value in your friends? 
Constructive criticism.
21.Who are your favorite singers? 
Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Adele, Barbara Streisand, Hemant Kumar, Michael Jackson, Ghulam Ali, Salamat to name a few.
22.Who are your heroes in real life? 
Indian Military.
23.What is it that you most dislike? 
Ill-treating children.
24.What is your greatest regret? 
Not climbing Mount Everest.
25.What is your motto? 
Joie De Vivre by Asha.
(As told to Ambica Sachin, ambica@khaleejtimes.com)