One of Auguste Renoir's most impressive paintings is titled The Daughters of Catulle Mendès. It is, well, a portrait of his friend and prolific French poet's three daughters in oil — conveniently omitting in its title the name of their mother, Augusta Holmès, virtuoso pianist and one of the most important composers of the 19th century. This phenomenon is no stranger to the 21st century, but it's what the students at the Social Communications Media (SCM) department at Sophia Shri B K Somani Polytechnic are striving to change.

The polytechnic, which has empowered the first generation of women born in independent India, is celebrating its golden anniversary. SCMSophia, as it is known, launched a project called Lives Of The Women in 2014 helmed by visiting faculty member and award-winning author Jerry Pinto where students document the lives of women who have done ground-breaking work in various fields through a series of 10,000-word biographies. The fourth volume that was released last month is centred on five women who have played an integral role for the institute: historian and polytechnic director Dr Sr Anila Verghese; former head of department at SCM Jeroo Mulla; advertising veteran Elsie Nanji; fashion designer Krishna Mehta and restaurateur Pinky Chandan-Dixit of the popular Babulnath restaurant Soam.