My mother, Krishna Mahandru, who has died aged 83, was an interpreter and community worker who helped minority and disadvantaged women in Newham, east London.
Krishna spent almost the first half of her life in Kenya. Born in Nairobi, she was the daughter of Shadi Talwar, a pharmacy dispenser, and his wife, Ved Vati (nee Chopra), who worked in the local temple. Krishna’s favourite childhood memory was witnessing the visit of Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) to Nairobi in 1952, with her younger sister Usha.
She attended Arya girls’ school in the capital and had a group of friends who stayed with her throughout her life. As a young girl she loved climbing the guava trees in her parents’ garden.
Krishna was a female pioneer, learning to drive at the age of 18 and then driving herself around in a conservative Kenyan-Indian society that frowned upon independent women.
After achieving her diploma in typing in 1956 at Kay’s College, Krishna worked as a clerk in the Kenyan police HQ. In 1961 she married Vasant Mahandru, a teacher. She taught him to drive, something rare for a spouse at the time, which became a favourite family anecdote.
They had five children. When Vasant went to the UK in 1974 to do a master’s at Reading University, Krishna looked after the children on her own. It was a tense time in Kenya, with Idi Amin in neighbouring Uganda expelling south Asians, and fear among the population.
Krishna kept her children close and in 1975 the family emigrated to the UK, first to Plaistow, in Newham, east London, later moving to Ilford, in Redbridge. Adapting to a harsher economic and social climate for the family, Krishna worked at the Plessey factory for six years.
The late 1980s saw Krishna put to good use her extensive language skills by working as a professional interpreter. She spoke Punjabi, Swahili, Gujarati and Hindi fluently.
In 1989 she became a receptionist at Newham Rights Centre, where she used her cultural and personal experience to provide support to Asian women struggling with problems over employment, housing and domestic abuse.
Krishna retired in 1992. She was immensely popular in the Ilford community, where she took an active role at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad temple and in the local Asian women’s association.
She was a wonderful cook and lovingly prepared meals at any opportunity for family and friends. She enjoyed reading and watching detective programmes, and was still driving her adult children and husband around town in her car well into her 80s.
Krishna is survived by Vasant, their children, Yatin, Ritu, Hasmeeta, Seema and me, and her grandchildren, Vikram, Sandeep, Lata and Anusha.
