Rama Satyendra Khandwala ^[1] ( née Mehta, 3 December 1926 – 28 October 2021) was India's oldest tour guide and was the oldest living member of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, ^[2] formed by Subhas Chandra Bose during India's freedom movement. ^[3]

Early life

Khandwala was born on 3 December 1926 ^[4] to an affluent family in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) as the fifth of seven siblings. Her grandfather was a doctor and a lawyer. ^[5] Her mother, Lilavati Chhaganlal Mehta, was the recruiting officer at the Rani of Jhansi Regiment and a part of the Indian Independence League. At the age of 17, Khandwala and her sister Neelam joined the Regiment as sepoys after hearing Bose's speech in Rangoon. ^{[3] [6]} She attended a private school where the popular refrain was "Britain shall always rule the waves". ^[5]

Career

Joining as a Sepoy, Khandwala soon became the Second Lieutenant at the Regiment and led 30 Ranis for two years in Rangoon. Speaking about her experience with Conde Nast Traveller, she said: ^[7]

My years in the INA were the most precious ones. The training was tough. I was promoted to be a Second Lieutenant and led 30 Ranis. That training still keeps me going. They aren’t going to make any freedom fighter-tour guides anymore, are they?

As a part of the Regiment, she was trained to be a soldier and a nurse. Military training included rifle and bayonet practice, handling machine guns and STEN guns, and defense and attack maneuvers. Medical training included working in general wards and operating rooms. ^[8]

In 1944, she worked as a nurse in a hospital located in Maymyo (now, Pyin Oo Lwin) and almost died in an air raid. ^{[7] [5]} After World War II, she and her family were put under house-arrest for six months and later moved to Bombay (now, Mumbai) in 1946. In the initial year, she worked as a secretary in a trading firm, nurse, and a Japanese language translator but she was not very keen on desk jobs. ^[9] Later, she spotted an advertisement for becoming trained tourist guides and decided to pursue it. She had learned Japanese during their occupation of Burma between 1942 and 1945. She worked as a translator for documentaries created by Japanese television channels, and corporates. ^[7] During her stint as an interpreter for a Japanese documentary, she met the Dalai Lama and accompanied the King of Bhutan on a hike to Elephanta's Buddhist caves as a guide. ^[10]

Khandwala served as a tour guide for over 50 years, remaining active into her later years, and was particularly popular with Japanese tourists visiting India. ^{[3] [9]} In 2019, she became a TEDx speaker. ^[11]

Personal life

Khandwala married in Bombay in 1949. Her husband died in 1982, and she had one daughter. ^{[7] [5]}

She died in Mumbai on 28 October 2021, at the age of 94. ^[12]

Recognition

In 2017, President Ram Nath Kovind felicitated Khandwala with the Best Tourist Guide Award at the National Tourism Awards. ^{[3] [13]} On India's 72nd Independence Day, Khandwala inaugurated and was the chief guest at the Indian Film Festival organised by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. ^[10]

A documentary film about her wartime experiences, entitled "Elephants do Remember," was released in 2019. ^[14]

References