Thiruvananthapuram: Singer and Padma Shri winner Bombay Jayashri opened up about how she was led to the world of music at a very early age. She recollected her emotional attachment to the superhit romantic song ‘Vaseegara’ from the ‘Minnale’ film, which was recorded in Coimbatore. "After recording the song, I was accepted by all my people. My ironwallah, autowallah... everyone started to give a special treatment to me," she said while speaking at the Mathrubhumi Festival of Letters on Thursday.

The jam-packed audience had also the privilege of hearing Jayashri sing `Lag Ja Gale…’ and a few other golden Hindi songs. "Olden is golden ...that’s why yesteryear songs are still remembered and never fades away. I feel every music is a jewel to my credit. Every music director is an institution," she said.

Jayashri recollected her regular visits to her Mama's house in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur and said her Kerala connection comes from her mother who hails from Kozhikode. Jayashri talked about how her first song with the music legend KJ Yesudas made her nervous to the core. 

When asked by journalist Ravi Menon if Bhakti is needed to render a Carnatic number, she said, "What is bhakti? Is it devotion or experience? I still do not know how to define bhakti. Whatever it is, the inner feeling when one sings the song is important."

Jayashri loves to sing for autistic children and believes in music therapy by appreciating the value of finer things. She recollected how a child named Prakash came up to her long back after a concert and told that whatever she sang was all wrong. "This boy used to hear my songs and minutely follows it. I realised after a few months when I heard the recording that there were flaws in my singing and the boy had only corrected that. I have not met the boy even till date but it is etched in my memory."

The end of the session was marked by a book release function where Bombay Jayashri handed over the book written by Kalamandalam Saraswathy to eminent Konkani writer and Jnanpith award winner from Goa, Damodar Mauzo.