‘Sandhya Mukherjee a living legend, beyond awards’
The Hindu
‘To offer her Padma Shri is a mindless act’
For several years now, Bangladeshi photographer Jannatul Mawa, a resident of Dhaka, has been pleading with friends in Kolkata to take her to the singer Sandhya Mukherjee so that she can take pictures of — in her words — the living legend. Luck has eluded her so far.
“That’s all I want in life — to be face to face with Sandhya Mukherjee just once, even if for a few minutes, to click her pictures, and maybe have her sing a line from one of her songs,” said Ms. Mawa, whose most memorable moments in India, so far, include clicking pictures of shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan’s house in Varanasi.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.