Hero and the singer!

Tejaswini Sharma appears like any other girl in her early twenties. Seated in a chair, the girl holds the audience captive with her rendition of a Lata Mangeshkar number. The audience has been requested not to clap during the song, but that doesn’t stop them from erupting into shouts of ‘Once more’ as the mesmerising song ends. And only as she is eased out of the chair by her brother and mother, does one realise that Tejaswini is a special child. "Though physically she’s 20-plus, mentally her age equals to that of a four or five-year-old," says her mother. But this pretty girl is special for more reasons than that. She has overcome all adversities to pursue her only passion singing. And helping her in this endeavour is Akshay Kumar. She waves out to him and beams, "Akshay Bhaiyya!" before proceeding to give the actor a warm hug. "She’s the real star," points out Akshay, and adds, "We are heroes on screen, but she’s one in real life." Akshay who had chanced upon Tejaswini in her hometown of Chandigarh was so moved by her singing, that he decided to take up her cause. "Her eyes and voice spoke to me long after our meeting" They questioned me and the system we support, the society we live in," he says. So Akshay agreed to judge a popular talent show hosted by Aditya Narayan only if they gave her a chance to perform. The channel obliged and not only did they let Tejaswini perform, but also made her a judge alongwith the superstar. "Akshay has been Godsend," says the girl’s visibly moved mother, Harsh, adding that they had approached several music reality shows, but were turned away since Tejaswini was a kid with special needs. Incidentally, Akshay’s an ambassador for special children and has been associated with their cause for several years. Tejaswini also shares a special bond with Lata Mangeshkar even though she has not met the songstress even once. "Tejaswini had not uttered a single word till 12. Her only solace was listening to Lata’s songs. And then what happened can only be described as a miracle. Lata’s song was playing, when midway the cassette developed a snag and stopped. We were shocked to hear Tejaswini hum the rest of the song. That was the first time we had heard our daughter’s voice," says her mother. Soon they got her enrolled for music classes and today the girl can sing some of the most complicated ragas with perfect ease. It’s not surprising that Lata’s on Tejaswini’s wish list. "I just want to meet her once," says the girl who barely speaks a few words, but can sing continuously for three hours and remembers over 200 songs.