Life was going fine. My album ‘Millennium’ had released. I had just performed for the millennium New Year. Just seven days after that I developed facial paralysis (Bell’s palsy). I considered myself to be a happy person. So I wondered why I got the illness. Perhaps, I had some issues of the heart to deal with. Or may be the gruelling concerts got to me.

The setback
Yes, I did get depressed. But I’m not the one to get stuck. My family said, ‘You will get fine. And even if you don’t it’s no big deal’. That took away my fear. Paralysis first gets worse, before getting better. So my face was distorted badly. They took away the mirrors at home. I was blessed to have positive people-my family and friends around me.

Also, when I went to the hospital for electrical stimulation, I realised that my problem was the least. I saw cases of people being completely paralysed or waist downwards. Though I couldn’t talk clearly at least I was mobile. If your soul is alive, there’s no end to miracles.

The strength
Soon, I stopped taking steroids as I had become double my size. I took to meditation. I didn’t let anything negative enter my orbit. Nobody ever saw me cry. Usually, it takes more than two years to recover from Bell’s palsy and the smile always remains lopsided. But I recovered within eight months. I remember the first time my lip moved it was a celebration.

Then I began again with an ssignment with A R Rahman. I sang the number ‘Osaka Moraiya’ (Shah Rukh Khan-Juhi Chawla starrer ‘One Two ka Four’). I’ve realised that the mind is the last frontier- if it’s in your mind it’s in your hands.

The lesson
If you hyphenate ‘dis-ease’, it implies a body not at ease. If you are a content person, illness cannot touch you. There is an uphill even in the downhill. Because then you meet yourself.