Your arrival has changed India's image and it makes me very happy, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
Lata Mangeshkar, who turned 90 on Saturday, was on a telephone call with Modi on his monthly radio broadcast "Mann Ki Baat".
In the phone-conversation, which was recorded before the Prime Minister left the country on a week-long trip to the US, Modi wished the singer for her birthday. "Pranaam, I called because I will be travelling on your birthday. I thought before leaving I should wish you and congratulate you. I wish you good health and may your blessings be on us. I pray," he said.
The nonagenarian asked Modi to bless her, but he said the singer was elder to him in age and work and she should bless him instead.
"People get old with age. But it's always good to get blessings from those who become big through their great work," Lata Mangeshkar replied.
"Your arrival has changed India's image and it makes me very happy," she added.
Modi said the conversation between him and the singer "was like a younger brother talking to his elder sister."