Mumbai, May 19 (IANS): Singer-anchor Shaan is preparing to host the grand fundraising concert "Ek Desh, Ek Raag", which will celebrate 25 years of "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa". Looking back, he has shared some interesting anecdotes from his hosting days in 2002.

"I would wake up from sleep at times and say, 'welcome everybody to Sa Re Ga Ma Pa', and my wife used to think that I had gone mad! But those were the days. I don't know if I was best host or not, but back in the day, things weren't as easy and I put in a considerable amount of effort to ensure I did my best. I was somebody who didn't have a strong command over spoken Hindi and neither did we have teleprompters to help us with our cues. So we had to stand beside the participants even while they were performing only to boost their morale and had to remember every line and every cue by heart. There was no scope for mistakes and everything was manual. But I guess that's what made it natural," Shaan revealed.

He is ready to take up hosting duties again for the special show.

"Ek Desh, Ek Raag" is a 25-hour digital music marathon that starts on May 23. The 25-year milestone gala will culminate in an "Ek Desh, Ek Raag" concert on May 24 across 19 ZEE channels with some of the popular faces of "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" singing from the confines of their homes.

Artistes like Himesh Reshammiya, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Richa Sharma, Javed Ali, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Kamal Khan will come together to sing for this initiative.

Shaan confided it has become difficult for him to host shows these days.

"To be honest, I will be turning 50 in three years and since my eyes have lesser optical power now, I wear glasses. So the teleprompter is a big issue for me while hosting these days. But, I feel honoured to be the 'sutradhaar' of this industry's first concert where the most popular faces of the franchise cutting across regional boundaries perform for India during such a testing time from the confines of their homes," he said.