Sharmila Tagore gets nostalgic about Gayatri Devi

Rajmata Gayatri Devi (90) passed away at a Jaipur hospital after a prolonged illness.

Rajmata Gayatri Devi (90) passed away at a Jaipur hospital after a prolonged illness. The wife of the late Maharaja Maan Singh, sheu00a0 was once listed among the World's Ten Most Beautiful Women by Vogue magazine and revered for her grace and poise. She had a stint in politics and was even jailed during the Emergency. Here Sharmila Tagore remembers the dynamic lady.u00a0

"Aunty Ayesha (Gayatri Devi) was a personal friend of my mother-in- law. The two families have been very close. It was a very long association. Sheu00a0 was very much part of my wedding and she wasu00a0 very fond of cricket. Once she asked me a question about cricket. I didn't know the answer. 'Why don't you know? Aren't you married tou00a0 Tiger (Pataudi)?' she retorted.u00a0

Rajmata Gayatri Devi	Sharmila Tagore

Indelible memories
When she was in a roomful of peopleu00a0 she made every single person feel special. When I got engagedu00a0 to Pat, she came across the entire length ofu00a0 the room, came and talked to me in Bengali. That one-to-one made me feel so special. Thatu00a0 time, I was so young, so frightened. Her attention made me feel so confident. I've never forgotten that. She was a fun person to be with.

Glam presence
We were in London recently and she wanted to see the new Keira Knightley film, The Duchess. I remembered how I had arrangedu00a0 a show of my film Anupama in the 1960s foru00a0 her mother who was on a wheelchair. I told Aunty Ayesha if The Duchess was in India, I'd have definitely arranged a special screening for her.

She joined Parliament and was such a glamorous presence there. And she coped with the jail sentence with such dignity. Until the end, there were so many dignitaries in her house. My husband was very close to her.

She was exceptionally fond of him. Sheu00a0 really enjoyed life. She was a patron of the arts. And she did a lot for polo. I'll miss her. If a film on her life was made today I can't think of anyone who could fit in. She had a quality that's hard to find these days. The way she held herself, the way she movedu2026 that's hard to replicate."