Truesee's Daily Wonder

Indra Tamang, the Nepalese-born butler who inherited two apartments in The Dakota, poses outside the building.

This is rich. 

The lucky butler who suddenly became a millionaire when his boss left him her estate - two sumptuous apartments in The Dakota plus an art collection, all worth an estimated $8 million - pines for his old life. 

"Mud house dweller as I was I rather live in own cocoon," Indra Tamang wrote on his blog. "I rather be Indra of yore. I rather live my own life than try to be someone else." 

The Nepalese immigrant, who was rewarded for three decades of faithful service to actress Ruth Ford, wrote that the media blitz that followed revelations of his good fortune "hit me hard as hell." 

He admitted that suddenly being in the spotlight went straight to his head.

"The stars in my head lingered quite some time," he wrote. "It still comes back sometimes - the sporadic media interviews, invitation to host talk shows, chair a program hosted to recognize my own 'success.'"

Still posted on Tamang's blog Friday was a Happy Birthday from July to his late benefactress that ended with the words, "Miss you." 

Tamang, 57, who lives in a modest Woodside, Queens, two-family house with his wife and three kids, was not taking calls Friday. One of his Dakota apartments, a three-bedroom, is on the market for $5 million. 

The butler's tale is literally a rags-to-riches story. 

Born in a Nepalese farming village, Tamang was actually raised in a mud hut. His life took its first fortuitous turn when he met Ford's brother, poet Charles Henri Ford, who brought him to the U.S. in 1974. 

"I was always hearing about America," Tamang told the Wall Street Journal. "I took my chance and I came. I had no idea how the work was going to go and how long I would stay." 

They moved into the Dakota studio Ford also owned and Tamang wound up cooking and cleaning for both sister and brother. He even took up photography and travelled the world with his employer.

Thanks to the Fords, Tamang also got to meet some of the brightest cultural lights in the big city, everybody from Leonard Bernstein to Andy Warhol. And he continued to faithfully serve the Fords in their declining years. 

Before Ruth Ford died, she cut her daughter Shelley Scott and her two grandchildren out of the will. The disinherited daughter contested the will and eventually got a settlement. She also let it be known that she was "very happy" for Tamang. 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/13/2010-08-13_former_butler_indra_tamang_who_inherited_8m_from_actress_ruth_ford_misses_his_ol.html#ixzz0wpduCEb3