The one who bowled the maiden over

Theirs was a love story wrapped in dignified silence. But Raj Singh

Dungarpur

, late president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, who had no ear for music, once admitted that he was “extremely close” to Lata Mangeshkar.


It was believed the cricketer from a royal family in Rajasthan and the songster did not marry due to familial opposition. He had said: “We came from different backgrounds. The ‘60s was very different. Perhaps, both were very attached to their respective families. It was one of those things that just didn’t happen. But that has neither enhanced the relationship, nor has it reduced. She is the treasure house of my admiration and affection. ”

It was a chance meeting between the demure nightingale and the strapping sportsman who lacked patience for concerts. In 1959, Dungarpur, a Ranji Trophy player, came to Bombay to pursue law, and Dilip Sardesai’s cousin

Sopan

took him to a house in Walkeshwar where Hridaynath Mangeshkar and his friends played cricket. The singer stayed in a two-bedroom flat close by.
“I was invited to come up; I can’t remember if it was raining. She was utterly charming. She came to see me off and gave me her car…she invited my brother and me for dinner,” Dungarpur said in an interview in 2009.

Recalling the moment she won the Bharat Ratna, he said she could be “childlike”. “We were in London. She opened the flat and it was 11. 30 at night. The phone was ringing. She picked it up and said, ‘Wow!’ I said, ‘Hell! What wow is left for Lata Mangeshkar?’ She said, ‘

Rachna

(her favourite niece) is telling me I’ve got the Bharat Ratna. ’ The phones did not stop ringing that night. The next morning, you have to make a cup of tea yourself, I made one for her. She had her medicines and I asked her, ‘How does it feel to be a Bharat Ratna?’ She said, “Now that you ask me. . . bahut achha lagta hai’. ”