'Nobody can ever be like Didi, she never treated us like servants,' recall Lata Mangeshkar's domestic helps

Lata Mangeshkar/picture courtesy: AFP

The domestic helps and aides who worked at Lata Mangeshkar's residence here said nobody else can ever be like their 'Didi', as the legendary singer was fondly called, who never treated them as her servants and never spoke to them angrily. Mangeshkar, 92, died in a Mumbai hospital on Sunday following a multi-organ failure.

"I suffered a heart attack when I was at her place. Didi saved my life, but now she has herself gone away forever," Salve said with moist eyes while waiting in an enclosure reserved for the relatives and friends of Mangeshkar at Shivaji Park, where she was cremated in the evening. Wearing a 'nauvari' (Maharashtra's traditional nine-yard) saree, Salve waited eagerly to pay her last respects to her 'Didi'.

She said she had been working at Mangeshkar's house for more than the last three decades. "I have been working at her home since Indira Gandhi's time, when Didi's mother Mai was there," Salve, who hails from Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, told PTI. Salve said that she had last seen the legendary singer a month back at her home when she went there after her medical treatment.

"Didi never treated us as a servant. She used to fondly call me 'Mavshibai'. She never talked to us angrily. In this world, there is no person like Didi and nobody else can ever be like her," she said, adding that Mangeshkar always spoke to the domestic helps respectfully. Salve said Mangeshkar had asked her to keep visiting Prabhu Kunj, her residence, often, although her medical condition post-heart attack did now allow her to do so.

According to her, Mangeshkar used to take care of their small needs and never treated them like servants and provided food and clothes. Pushpa Nabar, another help, said, "Didi jaisa kai nahi (There is no one like Didi)." Talking to PTI, she said she had been serving Mangeshkar for the last two decades and was her caretaker before she went on a long leave due to the pandemic. She said that six to seven people worked at Mangeshkar's house and all of them are deeply saddened after her death.

Tarabai Ainpure, who had worked at Mangeshkar's Pune home for 25 years, had managed to reach Shivaji Park to pay tributes to the legend one last time, but heavy security meant she was unable to reach close to the barricaded area in the sprawling ground. After the VVIPS left, police allowed her to go inside, she told PTI, adding that she had not been able to see the melody queen since the pandemic broke out (in early 2020).

Kin of Tarabai said she used to cook food in Mangeshkar's Pune residence and also travel to the latter's Pedder Roadhouse, but the pandemic had left Tarabai stuck in Pune.

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