Our Special Correspondent Neelima Mahajan-Bansal was born in April 1979 under the shadow of the Ugandan civil war. Her father had been working as a doctor in a government hospital in the capital, Kampala. But as fighting intensified, the family finally decided to follow the advice of the Indian High Commission and fled to Kenya on March 31, days before her birth. They left without any of their belongings, except for a few Kenyan shillings and some travellers’ cheques. Along the way, the family had to escape being attacked by soldiers looking for their next loot. A chemical engineer who worked at a local paper mill run by the Birlas, whom her dad knew, took the family in his home in Webuye, a small town in Kenya. After 12 days there, the family had to head to Nairobi in search of a proper hospital. Neelima was born at the local hospital in Nairobi.
(This story appears in the 28 August, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Great Story IG. A few days back my husband was commenting on how much the African Banks were advertising on prime time. Even in the lotus eaters land.... Thailand its visible:) enjoyed reading Forbes online though i would love to get my hands the issue too.
on Aug 15, 2009