January 4, 2011 (Sampurn Wire): The legendary Rabindra Sangeet singer Suchitra Mitra has passed away yesterday at 1.30 pm following cardiac arrest. She has amused the Rabindra Sangeet lovers for six decades by singing more than 400 songs of the legendary poet.

Mitra took her last breathe at her South Kolkata residence on Monday and is survived by a son. She was taking lunch at her home when her life ended. She was born in the year 1924 in a moving train. Her father litterateur Saurindra Mohan Mukherjee was also a great admirer of Tagore.

Her death came as a shock to her home state West Bengal. Her students include many leading singers, actors, writers and other cultural personalities.

She left the state in tears thus ending an era in Rabindra sangeet. Today, her last journey would start in the morning. Mitra was the Head of Rabindra Sangeet Department at the Rabindra Bharati University, so her body will be taken their first. Then, it will be kept at Rabindra Sadan so that public can pay their last tribute to her. In the afternoon, the body will be taken to the Keoratala crematorium for performing the last rights.

In 1945, Suchitra was honored with Tagore Hymn Prize by the London Tagore Hymn Society. In 1973, she bagged the prestigious Padmashree and in 1983, she won the Sangeet Natak Academy award. She has performed in various countries like Canada, the US, Australia, Poland, Hungary, Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bangladesh.

Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee offered his condolence and said that she was loved by the entire world for her singing. She was trained under the expert guidance of Shailajaranjan Mazumdar and Shantidev Ghosh in Santiketan.

Mitra was also a former sheriff of Kolkata in the year 2001. We offer our condolences to the family of the late legendary singer.

--Sampurn Wire