Rahul Vaidya: Didn’t had the courage to watch Lata didi’s pyre being set on fire, so I walked away

Singer Rahul Vaidya feels lucky that he got a chance to pay his last respects to legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. But, he says he walked away before her pyre was set on fire.

“When I saw the tricolour being lifted from her body for one last time before her funeral pyre was set on fire…. Oh my God, I still can’t express my emotions. I felt very heavy in my heart, and had tears rolling down my eyes,” Vaidya chokes while recalling the heartbreaking moment from her funeral.

The Nightingale of India passed away on February 6 following multiple organ failure, leaving the world behind to mount the loss and honour her legacy. Her last rites were held in Mumbai on Sunday.

Looking back the moment when he bid goodbye to the doyen of Indian music, Vaidya shares, “When they lifted the tricolour, watching her body being kept on the ‘chandan’ wood pieces was a difficult moment. It was an unusual feeling. I choked. To be honest, I walked away even before they set her pyre on fire because I couldn’t see that thing, and have that memory of going away etched in my mind. So, I kneeled down and paid my last respect and walked off before they set her on fire,” he says.

The singer considers himself lucky to get a chance to pay his tribute, as “many people wanted to get the last glimpse of her”. But, with a heavy heart, he adds, “While we all know death is inevitable, we never thought that day would come when we will hear that Lata ji is no more.”

Vaidya interviewed Mangeshkar for a special cause in 2013, and remembers being “terribly late” for the interview due to traffic. “It took me four hours to reach her place. I had almost turned pale because I made her wait, but she made me feel really comfortable,” says the singer, who also interacted with her on phone several times.

While he feels the void after her demise will stay forever, Vaidya says she will stay alive through her music.

“She is going to be with us forever through her musical legacy, like she says in her song, tum mujhe yun bhula na paaoge, jab kabhi bhi sunoge geet mere, sang sang gungunaoge,” he concludes.