Sara Banerji

Sara Banerji was born in 1932. As a young girl she lived in Oxfordshire while her father fought in the Second World War. After the war was finally over, in 1945, her family emigrated to what was at that time Southern Rhodesia. They lived in the African Bush in a single mud rondavel, with no electricity or tap water.

Sara Banerji came across her future husband, Ranjit Banerji, in a coffee bar. He had come there as a customer and she was the waitress. They then went to the hills of South India where Sara gave birth to three daughters, one of them Sabita Banerji. Ranjit was a tea planter and Sara was an artist, rode as a jockey and wrote her debut novel. They came back to England in 1973, Ranjit and Sara with £5 each, giving the family earnings a sum of £10. Sara had to borrow some cash. She bought ponies in auctions she went to and gave riding lessons. Afterwards, she started a gardening business in Sussex.

Sara now lives in Oxford with her family. She teaches writing for Oxford University's department for Further Education. She gives exhibitions of her artwork and waste material sculptures regularly. Ranjit and Sara practice meditation and yogic flying every day. They have five grandchildren.