What is your latest album Namee all about - the name is very unusual, for it means moisture.
The innate quality of moisture is tenderness. So I have taken that connotation. Tenderness in turn means love and care. Through this Times Music album I want to vocalize the myriad emotions and feelings of a contemporary woman in love.
Since I have largely talked about emotions from my perspective I have needed to have different lyricists and producers for the various rhythms and shades that I wanted to project. And I was deeply involving with every aspects of the music and orchestration too. For example, one track, Bhini bhini, is tailored as if I am singing for myself. There is a song that reflects a philosophy close to my heart - Tu rab se pyar kar/Tu sab se pyar kar. There are two tracks by Ranjit Barot - one folk song and one rock. The album is very acoustic - you see, I love performing on stage and early on I realized that listeners do not appreciate differences between the recorded and stage versions.

The gap between your first major album and this one has been seven years. What have you been doing in the interim?
I have been singing a lot in regional albums in Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bengali and Bhojpuri besides lounge. There is a prayer album about the Jyotirlings. I have sung Tumse mili nazar in Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahati Hoon and a version of O what a babe in Rakht. I sang also in Hari Bhari, I - Proud To Be An Indian and Chausar. I am now doing two albums with Music Today and two with Times Music for children - there is an original album of nursery rhymes and a chant-along album of Mantras. I want to do well-produced, good, healthy original albums for children. The problem is that I cannot go around asking for work, but I am busy anyway.

You have a B.Ed. (Bachelors in Education) degree. Does the interest in work for children come from there?
Well, I have specialised in Deaf Education. I a consultant to many trusts and a Disability activist. My mission through my own trust, Trinayani, is to heighten awareness about Juvenile Diabetes, Learning Disability, Autism and Mental Impairment. We have a website, www.trinayani.org too. I have made a 1-minute film on all this and am a Special Educator. It’s not enough to make just schools and colleges aware of these things. We should also spread the words through whatever other avenues can reach the masses.

Which way do you see music going today?
Well, the good side is that we see new blood and a lot of experimentation in film music especially. But we are sidelining Indian music and the scope for doing original work has reduced considerably. That’s the bad side.