Sheila Advani was 18 when conditions in her homeland of Sindh and in the city of her birth, Karachi, compelled her family to leave neighbours and a fine home on Clifton Beach, five months after the Partition of India. Accompanied by her mother and two young siblings, Sheila began her turbulent journey on a steamship to an unfamiliar land, destined for a life of challenges, responsibility and care-giving. She overcame the death of both her parents, fostered her siblings and rebuilt their lives, segeueing from the squalor of an Ulhasnagar refugee camp to a home in Bombay, and from there into the world. With grit, courage and resilience, Sheila embraced her life -rough and rife as it was - with its fast-moving twists and turns, with utmost dignity and inner strength.
The stash of kokis, that quintessential long-lasting Sindhi flatbread laden with ghee, chillies, onion and coriander that she packed into her luggage when she left her home in Sindh held the key to her survival and forbearance. Koki could well be a metaphor for the powerhouse of energy Sheila was to become. This is her story: a journey of myriad extreme emotions, successes and losses. Her tryst withkoki!
