Shireen Sabavala: 1924-2017 – A sepia-tinted elegance fades to black

“The works would just be sitting here, wrapped up,“ she told the Mumbai Mirror in an interview two years ago. “We’d rather share it with the city.“
The Sabavalas’ home in Altamount Road echoed of this generous sentiment. The tasteful apartment was an open house for young art enthusiasts and poets. “She always gave time for people, especially the younger generation. It’s a rare quality to see nowadays. She was warm and extremely hospitable,“ says auctioneer Dadiba Pundole. “Though we were part of the same community, I got to know her a little late in life.She was a practical woman and a no-nonsense lady, which was a nice thing about her.“
A great follower and a teacher of the Bihar School of Yoga, Sabavala would spend a lot of time at the centre in Munger and remained committed to this way of life right till the end.“It was through the Bihar School of Yoga that she grew concern for the larger cosmic frame of belonging.
“She had an independent sense of the world. She was a student at the London School of Economics and survived World War II. She picked herself up and went on with life,“ says poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote. “She was a woman of great strength.“
Reema Gehi
Mumbai Mirror (Bombay), Sunday, Feb 19 2017, Page 4 :
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