“Neena Badhwar is the Sachin Tendulkar of Indian journalism in Australia.”
Veteran journo Cyprian Fernandes spoke for all present when he paid a powerful tribute to Neena Badhwar, the founder of The Indian Down Under newspaper. She passed away on 17 October, aged 73.
He was addressing some 300 people who gathered on 22 October to bid Neena farewell. Many were close friends, but everyone remembered her as the founder of the first enduring publication that connected Sydney’s Indian community.
Launched in 1987, her venture marked baby steps in a newly settling diaspora yearning for connection and belonging.
Years later, her pioneering efforts would inspire many others, this very publication included.
Fernandes, who held several editorial roles at The Sydney Morning Herald during the 1980s and ‘90s, recalled the founding of The Indian Down Under, highlighting Neena’s unwavering determination despite limited resources. “Cyprian, it will happen,” Neena had told him then. When those same four words were echoed only days later by her husband Vijay Badhwar, Fernandes knew the venture was destined to succeed.
Neena, with Vijay’s backing, set about building a team of writers, sourcing advertisements from community businesses, and seeking support from government agencies. Media offerings for the diaspora were slender in the late 1980s, and Neena’s efforts would go on to have a significant impact on the community.
Her forays into radio, particularly with local platform Monica Geet Mala, were also substantial.
Neena devoted herself to building community – championing the arts and giving artists an avenue for expression. Whether it was music or poetry or theatre, her home became a welcoming hub for creative gatherings and shared inspiration.
“The Badhwars opened their hearts and home to the community,” Mala Mehta, a lifelong friend, recalled. “It was never too much for them to lay out a meal for fifty or hundred people. Later of course, they built a huge entertaining area in their home – we had no commercial halls or caterers back then to help mark our milestones. At the drop of a hat, the Badhwars would have a bunch of people over, or we would run back and forth between our homes to cook up mega meals.” (Neena’s sumptuous meals and skills in cooking were brought up by speaker after speaker at her farewell).
Through all the community gatherings, Neena shone through as a woman of varied interests. Neena Badhwar
Mala had by then launched her own Hindi school, and Neena eagerly joined as a volunteer — eventually teaching Hindi at the HSC level. Her passion for the language also took her to the University of Sydney, where she taught Hindi in the Continuing Education program. Her poetry and stage scripts stood as twin testaments to her creativity and love for expression.
“Neena was very intelligent and well read – she loved reading, and had a passion for language, Hindi in particular,” Mala recalled. “She came from a very highly educated family, her parents being writers and teachers also. She was very compassionate, and gentle, and driven by a genuine love for community.” Neena Badhwar
Gardening was another favoured pastime – it saw Neena build a vast garden, with the herbs corner a particular favourite as she became drawn to natural health. Fueled by her passion for holistic living, she went on to earn a degree in naturopathy from Nature Care College.
Deeply spiritual in their outlook, both Neena and Vijay were regulars at the Vedanta Centre, and Neena finished the rigorous Vipassana Meditation routine several times.
“Neena had many dreams and aspirations, but being deeply family-minded, her greatest devotion was always to her loved ones,” Mala recalled. “Her children and grandchildren were her world, and she was unfailingly there for them – in every way that mattered.”
In her later years, as Neena’s health declined, she gradually withdrew from social life, preferring quiet and privacy. Friends respected her wishes, holding her and her family in their thoughts and prayers.
When she visited Vijay to condole, Mala Mehta noticed the mango tree in the Badhwars’ front garden and remembered the joy Neena had felt when she planted the little sapling decades ago. Today it is a fullgrown tree, and currently in full flower.
Much like that tree, Neena Badhwar’s efforts – quietly nurtured and rooted in love – continue to flourish, offering shade, sweetness, and inspiration to all whose lives she touched.
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