War and wisdom By: Namita Mantri, XI B

War and wisdom By: Namita Mantri, XI B

One calm night several years ago my grandmother, Shobhana Mantri, was attending a family function. As soon as she left to return home, sirens started blaring. She was forced to take cover wherever possible and for her that meant under the staircase of a railway station. This experience was not a unique one, it was one shared by many living in Mumbai during the Indo-Pak war.

Shobhana Mantri was born in Mumbai in 1943, between the second world war and the soon to come independence. Coming from a wealthy and influential family, she had a comfortable childhood and completed her education with two degrees. At the age of eighteen, she moved to London to learn under a journalist called Sunder Kabadi for a year and a half after which she worked for a German company.

The turning point of Shobhana Mantri’s life was her marriage, which distanced her from her earlier life. My grandfather was employed in the air force and suddenly Shobhana Mantri found herself face to face with a completely new life. She moved several times until she finally decided to move back to Mumbai, where she lived alone for quite a few years. Despite the opposition of several members of her family, she took up a job as a teacher and also got her third degree. She studied for her third degree with candles as the only lights during blackouts. 

The stories of her life in Mumbai aren’t something that I can relate to or even pretend to empathise with. Shobhana Mantri lived in a major city and her life was largely shaped by the Indo-China war, the Indo-Pak war, 26/11 and innumerable riots. The experiences that she’s been through are so similar to all those who lived around that time, however, her personal touch is what makes each of these unique. Her life is made of hundreds of stories strung together and each one has made her more confident and strong, making her who she is today. Shobhana Mantri lived an extremely unorthodox life in a very orthodox world and disproved all those who had ever opposed her.