Ira Mathur is an Indian born Caribbean freelance journalist/writer working in radio, television and print in Trinidad, West Indies.
Ira is currently a Sunday Guardian columnist and feature writer.
This website represents the diary of a woman and a twin-island nation in the new world.
I was born in an army hospital Guwahati in Northeastern India to a Muslim mother Anvar Zia Sultana, whose father was from Bhopal and mother from Savanur. My father, Mahendra Nath Mathur, is from Aligarh.
I am the middle child. My brother Varun was older and my sister Rashmi is younger.
As the children of an army officer, my brother and I moved all over India with our parents - from Simla, where I saw my first snowfall, to Chandigarh in Punjab to Bangalore.
The big surprise came when my father left the army after he had a heart attack at forty and announced he had found a job as an engineer to build the first highway in Tobago – the Claude Noel Highway. We lived on the fort near the Museum, and it didn't take us long to lose our Indian accents get a Tobago twang go-cart down the hill, pick guavas from the patch and make friends for life.
At fourteen, my father took me briefly to School in England after which he sent me at 17 to Trent University in Canada—followed by another stint in London where I studied international Journalism.
In London, I worked for a news agency – Gemini, whose editor, Daniel Nelson was passionate about uncovering stories from the developing world, and there I believe my ideology was set – to give the voiceless a voice.
I came home in 1990 when I met and married my husband, Imshah Mohammed, and began my career in journalism. I plunged deep in almost right away with my coverage of the coup attempt for the BBC while working for the state-owned NBS Radio 610.
I joined CCN TV6 after that when my beloved, brilliant late editor Raoul Pantin sent me all over Trinidad with a heavy tripod, (even while I was pregnant) to Laventille hot spots, and with police to drug busts, to cover prostitutes and poets. He told me the job of a journalist was to mirror our people, and I found much beauty amidst the sadness and crime.
What I never forget from the editors who most shaped me was to remain a voice for the voiceless. Here I found a real vocation since the power of media is such that if you shed light on a situation – on domestic violence victims, children with AIDs, victims of gun and drug violence, people step forward to help.
I am married to Imshah Mohammed two children Kiran Mathur Mohammed, an economist and banker who has developed a start-up ap, and a daughter, Anika Mathur Mohammed, a lawyer who lives in London.
In recent years I was able to concentrate on one of my parallel loves, books and writing, and the tab Ira’s Room is devoted to writing and writers. I hope you stay with me on my journey as we get to know one another.
My grandmothers' great grandfather, Sir Afsar ul Mulk (born 1852) was the son of a poor soldier from Uzbekistan who was brought to India to fight for the British in the mutiny of 1857. After his fathers' death, Afsar was adopted by the British, An exceptional cavalryman, he fought in Afghanistan and China in 1870 and rose in rank to become the General of the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. He and his wife Jameela had 11 children. He is pictured here with my grandmother Shahnur Jehan Begum who was his great-granddaughter.
My Mathur grandfather, Amar Nath Mathur a zamindar and trained accountant from Aligarh, UP was part of the Mathur clan. After the failure of the mutiny in 1857, the Mathur community found itself in dire straits. The Mathurs, who are a sub-caste of the Kayastha community, are unique in that they do not fall within the parameters of the four Hindu castes. This erudite, progressive and literate community has historically been cast in the role of administrators, advisors and record-keepers.
My father, Colonel Mahendra Nath Mathur, was born in Aligarh in 1932 educated in Aligarh Muslim University, & attended the National Defence Academy, Dehra Dun, and Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. He fought three wars for India. In 1962 as garrison engineer against China extending airfields at Guwahati for Indian Air Force fighters jets. In 1965 commanding a field company while the Indian army moved to Lahore Pakistan & in 1971 against Pakistan overseeing operations in Punjab and Kashmir on the Western front. As an Indian patriot who risked his life in the trenches, his saddest moment was fishing out notes and prayers from the pockets of dead Pakistani soldiers.
With my parents Col Mahendra Mathur, Anvar Zia Sultana Mathur and brother Varun in Agra in the '70s. Varun was wild, daring and always led me to trouble with his escapades. When he died, I felt some of my childhood died with him. My parents live close by in Trinidad.
My parents in Tobago. My father originally came to Tobago on a three-year contract, but when it was repeatedly renewed, he decided to stay and applied for citizenship for us all. We all fell in love with Tobago where our childhood by the sea and in the lush landscape and warm people was idyllic. My parents made friends with people from all continents of the world who had settled there.
With my sister Rashmi and brother Varun in Trinidad' down the islands.' We fitted in here better than we ever did in India where Hindu Muslim prejudice runs deep, and I suspect our respective Hindu and Muslim families although they love us, didn't know where to slot here. In this callaloo country, we can be whatever or whoever we wish, and we define ourselves primarily as Trinidadians.
My father, Col Mathur in Tobago at work. Col Mathur was the Chief Engineer of the Claude Noel Highway (Originally known as the Parkway Project. Following its completion, we moved to Trinidad, where he was the Director of the then disaster management agency, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Since retiring he has been writing and already notched up over 20 books on military history and philosophy, many of which are lodged in the public library in Port of Spain.