In desperation, dhrupad legend Asghari Bai wants to return her Padma Shri

A Padma Shri from the government of India in 1990. The Shikhar and Tansen Samman Awards from the Madhya Pradesh state government in 1985 and 1986 respectively. The honour of being the only woman dhrupad singer in the country. And of being a living legend in her own lifetime.

Also, hunger. Starvation. Poverty. And nary a person who will lend a helping hand. Even her appeals to the central and state government have fallen on deaf ears.

Finally, a sick and helpless Asghari Bai decided to register her protest by returning all her awards. In a letter to MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, she said, "Mere honours cannot quench one's hunger. We are starving and these awards do not make up two square meals a day for my family."

She asked the chief minister to arrange to take back the awards through appropriate channels, failing which she would return them herself.

The singer, whose vocal chords once thrilled millions of people across sub-continent, used to receive financial help from some patrons in Bundelkhand. This assistance dried up after she got the awards.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi, which pays her Rs 1,500 per month, gives her the money as a lump sum twice a year. As a result, for about five months or so in a year, her family nearly starves, managing to survive on rotis of jowar or barley and vegetables begged from neighbours.

"Both my sons," she said, "are disabled. My three daughters are yet to be married. I'm old and sick, I want to go to Indore for medical treatment but I don't have the money. I am unable to fulfill my responsibility towards my family," she says.

Meanwhile, sarod star Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has come to the 88-year-old singer's rescue. He said the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Trust will give her an award of Rs 100,000.

A letter has already been sent to Asghari Bai, informing her about the Trust's decision to honour her at a function to be organised at Gwalior on January 26. Khan added that Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, classical vocalist Shoba Gurtu and santoor star Shiv Kumar Sharma will also be honoured on the occasion.