Suvra Mukherjee, First Lady of India

Suvra Mukherjee (17 September 1940 – 18 August 2015) was the First Lady of India from 2012 until her death in 2015. She was the wife of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee from 1957 until her death in 2015. She was an accomplished Rabindra Sangeet singer.

Mukherjee died of respiratory failure caused by lung cancer at Goa army hospital in New Delhi, India, aged 74.

She was born on September 17, 1940 in Jessore (now in Bangladesh). Surva, as a graduate student, was an ardent fan of India’s national poet Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.

She was a vocalist of Rabindra Sangeet and performed in the poet’s dance-dramas for many years in India, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Suvra founded the ‘Geetanjali Troupe,’ whose mission is to disseminate Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy through song and dance. Surva was also a highly talented painter who had many group and solo exhibitions to her credit. She considered her mother, who was a painter, the source of her creative inspiration and her works won critical acclaim.

She has written two books – ‘Chokher Aloey,’ which is a personal account of her close interaction with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and ‘Chena Achenai Chin,’ a travelogue recounting her visit to China.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suvra_Mukherjee