Padma Sachdeva
Description
Padma Sachdev was born in a Hindu family in Jammu in 1940. Her father Jai Dev Badhu was a Sanskrit
scholar, who was killed during partition of India in 1947. Padma had a love for poetry right from her
childhood and when she started writing in Dogri, she became the first modern woman poet of the Dogri
language. She first married a Dogri poet, but that could not last for long. When she was working at All India
Radio, Jammu as an announcer, she met Surinder Singh, Hindustani vocalist of the Singh Bandhu musical
Duo, who was a Duty officer at that time. She married Surinder Singh in 1966. In the meantime, her poetic
collections ‘Meri Kavita Mere Geet’ became so popular that many prominent singers started singing her
compositions. She won Sahitya Academy Award in 1971. Her other important works in Dogri and Hindi
include Tavi Te Chanhan (Rivers Tavi and Chenab, 1976), Nheriyan Galiyan (Dark Lanes, 1982), Pota Pota
Nimbal (Fingertipful Cloudless Sky, 1987, Uttar Vahini (1992) and Tainthian (1992). She was given Padma
Shri by the Government of India in 2001and Kabir Samman for poetry by the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh for
2000-08. In 2015 she got Kruttiva Smagra Samman from Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad, West Bengal. She has
written her autobiography in Dogri language, entitled ‘Chit-Chete’ for which she got Sarasvati Samman.
Thus, the celebrity couple being role-models in their respective fields of music and literature lives in New
Delhi.
