Meera Dev Burman passes away

Meera with S.D. Burman

The world of music lost another great persona when eminent singer and lyricist Meera Dev Burman, wife of legendary music director-singer Sachin Dev Burman, died in Mumbai on October 15 after prolonged illness. She was 84.
Meera Dev Burman had been seriously ill since the death of her husband and her condition deteriorated over the years due to advancing age and had to be frequently hospitalised, her daughter-in-law and noted playback singer Asha Bhonsle said.
Born in Comilla (Bangladesh) in March 1923, Meera Dev Burman, was in the news recently for languishing in an old-age home for paraplegics in Mumbai where she was shifted from Agartala seven months ago.
However, she was moved to her son R.D. Burman's house in Mumbai in September following media reports about her condition in the old-age home.
After moving from Comilla, Meera settled in Kolkata. She was a student of Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen's mother Amita Sen who was trained in Rabindranath Tagore's Vishwa Bharati in Santiniketan.
S.D. Burman, born in Tripura's royal family, fell in love with Meera when they met at the All India Music Conference in Allahabad in 1937. She became a student of S.D. Burman and married him the same year.
After the marriage, S.D. Burman set tune to a number of songs penned by Meera who was a singer in her own right.
After the death of her husband in 1975 and her son in 1994, life had become difficult for Meera.
Seeing her plight, Tripura government had recently felicitated her in Mumbai and gave her some financial assistance for her medical treatment.