No one believed her. Not even her closest relatives when she told them that her mother had died. So left with no option, Shalini Mehra (49), a former hotel management graduate, lived with her mother, Vinodini Gupta's (76) dead body for four months, until Saturday when the police recovered it from
their house in Saket, South Delhi.
"I called my cousin. She told me the family's male members were in USA so no one would be able to complete the last rites. No one came," said Mehra, an alumnus of Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar.
Mehra, who claims to have been trained at the ITC Maurya Sheraton hotel during her heydays, said she had a lot of friends and was not a "loner".
Mehra said she was a PUSA institute graduate and had worked at several five-star hotels. "For three months I was in Bangalore where I fought for my daughter, Rihanna, who was snatched away. Now Rihanna is back and she has agreed to stay with me," said Mehra, who separated from her husband sometime back.
It was Rihanna who completed Gupta's last rites on Sunday after being informed of her death. Rihanna lives in Bangalore.
The police is awaiting the post-mortem reports to ascertain the real time Gupta died. "Once we get the reports, we will arrange a counselling for her (Mehra)," said H.G.S. Dhaliwal, DCP (south).
When Hindustan Times met Mehra on Monday, she was dressed in a sleeveless white and blue salwar kurta. Inside her house, lifestyle magazines were stacked in a pile and cigarette butts were littered all over the place. In the drawing room hung two paintings which, Mehra said, she and her mother had made together.
She says she manages her finances herself and has enough money to support her.
"I don't always order pizzas or burgers. I cook, too. I knit, crochet and talk to friends on phone. I have enough activities for the day and sometimes I go to PVR Saket. Mommy and me, used to hang out a lot. She was a beautiful, gracious woman," said Mehra.
Further inside the house, the mattress on which Gupta's body was found was falling apart and the house still bore the nauseating stench of decay.
"I have not cleaned up for many days," said Mehra as was evident from the thick layer of dust on the furniture.