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'.