At 9 am, I meet him at a verandah outside the Gallops Restaurant at the Mahalakshmi race course and ask:

Have you been coming here for long?
I've been a regular at the race course for the last eight years.. at 9 am for a walk and my daily exercise. It has kept me fit over the years. You can't ask for a better beginning for the day. I stay fresh all day.

Where have you been after the songs you playbacked for the film Babul?
Babul isn't even worth mentioning please. I don't give any importance to it. I've released an album with Gulzar on Kabir's poetry recently. I'm planning a Gurbani album, a few ghazal and bhakti geet albums and I've sung three songs for Kahani Gudiya Ki.

Why have you cut down on film songs?
That was never my core area of work. And I don't sing as much for films today because no one calls me to. If someone does, I screen the song for its lyrics and tune. If I like them, I do them. I haven't cut down on work at all. "I'd like to ask Himesh if he or any of his contemporaries will survive 40 years in the business and do well".

In retrospect, were things difficult for you at the outset?
Indeed, they were. It took me 10 years to cut my first album. It took me another decade to prove my worth and establish my style amidst the topmost singers then. Today, the scenario has changed so much.. superstars and supersingers are made overnight.

But it has to be seen how long they will survive. Singers are media created, instant success cannot last long. I have nothing against anyone's success though.

Whom did you regard as strong competition among your contemporaries?
I began when Mehndi Hasan was at the peak of his career. Ghulam Ali was doing very well. In film music, there were Talat Mehmood, Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar. I've faced competition.. the need to survive was always there.

You've been making appearances on the the Bombay social circuit only of late..what's your take on the city's party scene?
(Laughs) Oh, I guess my Padma Bhushan did that for me. No, I'm serious. Earlier, I wasn't considered big enough to be invited to parties.

After the national honour, I've suddenly become important. I'm in the media glare. I was even chief guest at Lata Mangeshkar's album release.

The party scene in Bombay is fabulous ‘time-pass'..there's good food, social chit chat, drinks and gorgeous women, all under the same roof. That makes for a nice evening once in a while. "I have no problems with Pankaj Udhas. Please ask him if he has any problem with me. I haven't worked against him.. his quality of singing may have worked against him".

Recently, Himesh Reshammiya was quoted as saying that ghazals will continue to enjoy their sacred space but never match up to the sales of film music. Your reaction.
Really? He said that? Well, I would ask Himesh if album sales are the only criteria to judge what survives and what fades out. Please tell me, why did Altaf Raja go into oblivion? He had the greatest album sales figures ever, but where is he today? No one knows his whereabouts.

Sales figures are publicity gimmicks. I'd like to ask Himesh if he or any of his contemporaries will survive 40 years in the business and do well.

Ghazals are a form of classical music. Everyone borrows from it. Ghazals sell on their own merit, no one promotes them. Imagine the sales if they were promoted well?

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