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Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan remembers Maharani Gayatri Devi, the Rajmata of Jaipur, who died at 90 on 29th July. He wrote in his blog that she was a picture of grace and beauty. He said that he had earlier sent her a bouquet of flowers and a get well card to the Hospital on learning about her health.

As a young student in the Delhi University I used to sneak into the Jaipur Polo ground, next to the Air Force colony opposite the Gymkhana Club in Delhi, to watch some of the finest polo players of the country, riding majestically on thorough breds competing with some of the finest teams from overseas. The Maharaja of Jaipur, a great proponent of the game, would play there and accompanying him used to be his wife, the Rajmata Gayatri Devi, in her soft and pastel flowered chiffon’s, a picture of grace and beauty,” wrote Amitabh.

The Superstar described how he managed to meet the Rajmata. “Never in my born days had I ever imagined that one day I would get to meet this lady. But time and circumstances changed that.” He continued, “After joining the movies there were many visits to the pink city of Jaipur for shootings and that is when a formal introduction with the Rajmata took place. Of the many private palaces that belong to the Jaipurs, some have been converted into grand hotels and I have had the pleasure of staying in them and enjoyed their exquisite regal ambience. I was later asked by Gayatri Devi ji to inaugurate one of the functions at the girls school that she started, now a flourishing institution. Some years ago she had invited me to be the chief guest at a charity she promoted for the under privileged and cannot forget what a gracious host she was that evening. 

“On another occasion she called me over for a private lunch at her Lily Pond residence, serving me personally with delicious vegetarian delicacies which she had so considerately asked her kitchen to prepare. She wrote a personal note to me a few years back to seek my involvement for another event that she was inaugurating, but time constraints kept me away. That was the last communication I had had with her, he wrote.

“Gayatri Devi documented her enchanted and eventful life in her autobiography; a fairy tale of this lovely Princess from Cooch Behar. May she rest in peace,” he concluded.
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