Pavitra Rishta actor, almost 80, has been living alone for 40 years; son doesn’t consider her as his mother: ‘Neend mein mar gayi toh…’

Asked if loneliness ever creeps in, she said, “I’m used to it. I’ve been living alone since 1987. I’m not scared at all. I used to be scared when I first moved in at my building. I would ask the guard to accompany to my door because I was afraid somebody would attack me from behind. But I’m not scared anymore. People can’t tell how they’ll die. Some people go in their sleep, some people die in the hospital. I’m not scared even one bit. If I die in my sleep, my neighbours would come knocking and think, ‘Buddhi ne darwaza nahi khola hai‘.”

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She said that all her siblings have passed away, and that her brother died very recently. She teared up as she recalled their close bond, and said that he was five years younger than her. Her son, she said, had moved in with her brother because that house was larger, and he had a child to raise. Because she was so busy with her career, Usha said that her son was raised by her mother. “I would go visit him when I had the time. There was no set schedule. Marathi plays would occupy all my time, because there would be multiple performances in a single day. My son still tells me that I’ve only given birth to him, his real mother was my mother,” she said.

In a recent appearance on her Pavitra Rishta co-star Ankita Lokhande‘s podcast, she spoke about her fears as she ages. “Ghar mein akeli hoon na, darr lagta hai mein girungi, kisiko malum nahi padega (I’m alone at home, you know, and I’m scared that if I fall, no one will even know). My brother passed away last year on June 30. If he had understood that I was going through something, he would have come running to me. Now, whom should I tell?”