Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar, who was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on 11 November after complaining of breathing difficulties, is now back home. The Quint spoke to her niece, Rachna Shah, daughter of Meena Mangeshkar, who told us what actually happened that night. Rachna, who was brought up by Lata, is very close to the singer and also lovingly calls her didi. In this exclusive interview, Rachna introduces us to the Lata didi she knows.
What happened that night? And what action did you take?
Rachna Shah: What happened, actually, is she became a little breathless because we did not realise but she got congestion. I guess because of her age, it got blown into pneumonia, you know, so she was on oral antibiotics, but they didn’t work. The minute I saw her getting a little uneasy in breathing – it was not like she was breathless, she wasn’t breathless, just uneasy. I said, ‘Didi, now this is not in our hands. I think now you need a little more care.” Because the coughing and all that did not sound very good to me.
We called her family doctor, Dr Rajeev Sharma and Dr Janardhan. They came at night and they said, “No, it’s better if we hospitalise her because we don’t want further complications. Because at this age, one thing leads to another.” So we took her to the hospital. She was fine. She was chatting with us while we went. When they did the x-ray, that’s when we realised that she had pneumonia. It was full-blown pneumonia. Then she needed IV antibiotics and she needed oxygen to make breathing easier, to avoid fatigue. And the doctor said, “Now that she’s come here, we’ll give her a lot of physio, so that her lungs bounce back to what they were. Let her stay on for a week to 10 days because at home, I’ll be frank, it’s not possible to be so intensive in your physio, things lapse.”
So she had to be in intensive care, not from the point of view that it was a scary thing, but just so that everything is regularly checked rather than lapses and gaps between the sisters going and checking. So she’s come out of it like a champion and the doctor actually marvelled. Dr Samdhani’s statement says that, “I marvelled at the her recovery.”
And now that she is back, how is the situation in the house? Is she still in bed or is she moving around?
Rachna Shah: No, no. See, only when she started walking and moving around in the hospital, that’s when the hospital let her go. She’s not bedridden, not at all. See, she’s Lata Mangeshkar, so she’s got a huge staff and they’re all there, we have to just monitor her physio. The physiotherapist will come and they will do it and that will continue for a month.
Is any further treatment scheduled for Lata ji?
Rachna Shah: No. Honestly there is no treatment except for physio. That’s it. That’s the only treatment.
What are the things that she loves doing now, how does she spend her time?
Rachna Shah: She’s very active on social media. So she tweets. She is amazing at photoshopping all the photographs she has on on her iPhone. We have downloaded all these various Photoshop apps for her. She does a lot of photoshopping. Sometimes she reads, she watches television.
How is she with her grandchildren?
Rachna Shah: Anand Bhosle and my brother Yogesh, they have kids. So their kids are didi’s. She dotes on them, all the grandchildren. That’s third generation for her. We are the second. So she pampers them, she will ensure she is looking after them, she loves them. She wants to know what’s happening in their school, how are they coping with the studies. She’s up-to-date with the fashion trends because they keep her updated.
Does she like cooking?
Rachna Shah: Yeah, she does. She makes the most amazing Mughlai soup. She got a lot of recipes from Majrooh Sultanpuri’s house, the lyricist, from his wife. So, those recipes are like heirlooms that have been passed down in their family and they taught didi. So she makes ‘pasanda’ and all that. She’ll start now in a month’s time, once everything is done. She’s a strong lady. She’s going to get back to her routine ASAP.
And what does she like eating?
Rachna Shah: She loves a blend of continental food. She loves continental. She loves Indian. We are very British also. One side of us is very English, so we have all that. You see, all the colonial influences are down with her. She’s a beautiful amalgamation of all these cultures.
Can you share a memory of a her from your childhood that is very close to your heart?
Rachna Shah: When I was a little kid, I was mad about animals and I used to keep telling her, “I love animals.” I must have been 7 or 8 years old. She sat me down one day and she said, “You’re fond of animals, I need to do something for you”. So, she took us on a safari to Africa, so that this child who’s an animal lover can see them at close quarters. She took time off from her schedule, she said, “I’m sorry, cancel everything because this child is an animal lover, and I need to show it to her.”
If I told her I like Disneyland, we landed up at Disneyland. So she’s been such a wonderful person. And we used to go to Paris, the both of us. We used to travel a lot. At the Montmartre Sacre Coeur church, one day we went there, and we just sat... the Christ is on the ceiling, so we sat there and I looked up and I said, “Didi, you know this place gives me peace.” She said, “So does it to me,” and we would go every day just the two of us and sit there. I used to ensure that she wore dark glasses so that she would not be hounded before she entered the church, because there are Indians around there everywhere. And we would just go and sit there, at peace with ourselves for a good 30-40 minutes, just sitting there, not asking for anything. And that was our moment of connect and peace, you know, and we used to walk out of that church and then back to her shopping.
She loves shopping?
Rachna Shah: Yeah, she’s... Oh my God! She’s a shopaholic. She can shop till she drops.
Even now?
Rachna Shah: Yeah, madame is shopping every day. And nowadays, when you go out there are too many people. They come over and start hounding her, autographs and this and that. Poor thing, you know. So many times when she is tired and she doesn’t want to take a chance, [shop] people come home, and then madame is shopping at home also. By the way, she never shops for herself, all this shopping is done for others. Every family member is thought of and remembered, and didi has amazing taste, so she will pick up according to what they like, what would suit them. The didi that we know and connect with is a simple lady, a very simple person, she is really simple. She has no demands. She’s in her own world. She’s doing her shopping, she’s on photoshop, she loves chatting. She connects with her friends from all over the world and all over the country. She’s a far greater person than the singer she is.
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