Aurangabad, Feb 6:
Musician family from the city Sarkate had close relations with the Mangeshkar family. Sarkate brothers Rajesh, Sanjay, Pramod, Vinod and Nitin are well-known musicians from the city.
Rajesh said that they come with the Mangeshkar family and especially with Latadidi through the contact of Usha Mangeshkar, who knew Sarkates since 2004 when she visited a music function organised in Deogiri College.
Since then all the Sarkate brothers used to visit Prabhukung, the residence of Lata Mangeshkar on September 28, every year to convey birthday wishes to her. Lata didi knew all the brothers by name.
In 2006, Rajesh Sarkate wrote and composed a duet devotional song “Vithumaulichya Bheti Jeev Vyakul”, which was sung by Rajesh and Lata Mangeshkar. This song was recorded in SwarLata Studio in Mumbai.
“Soft-spoken, simplicity and humbleness, are the qualities, which one can gain from the globally renowned artist. When we used to meet her, she was so humble, that we never felt that we are talking to the world’s greatest singer. She was more attached to my mother and she used to inquire about her health affectionately”, says Rajesh.
In 2010, when Didi come to know about the knee ailment of my mother, she insisted that the treatment should be done in Dinanath Hospital in Pune. After the surgery, she arranged for an ambulance from Pune to Aurangabad, he said.