WORKING FOR OTHERS IS A GREAT SOLACE FOR A JUDGE

I was a very shy child, probably because I was born late. I have a sister who is 14 years elder. My teachers advised my parents to get a pet dog to help me overcome my shyness.

- ANJULY MATHAI

Shall we start from your childhood? 

I got a pair—we had a male and a female. I am not sure whether that helped. In that sense, I was a combination of contradictions as a child. I had no stage fright, and I could perform on stage—recite a poem, participate in debates—but when it came to talking to people at a personal level, I had an element of shyness which, to an extent, continues even today. I don’t socialise much. I keep to myself and the family. It is also a product of my work. I completely dedicated myself to the profession of law, and that left very little time for anything else.

My sister and I went to an English medium school, which was a new thing in our family. Both my parents went to Marathi medium schools, and they learnt whatever English they learnt only after standard seven or eight. Going to an English school in Mumbai was a very different cultural experience from what home was like. Home was always associated with our family culture and traditions.

We had our properties, but the family lost its land [after the Maharashtra Agricultural Lands (Ceiling and Holdings) Act]. Eventually, everyone had to depend upon a profession to sustain their livelihood. My father took to law, following his uncle and grandfather. My parents settled down in Mumbai to earn their livelihood. My father came here with very little family support. He would stay in a small tenement in Mumbai. My mother would carry clothes on her head to wash at the nearest tap. Though my father did very well as a lawyer, he always had this feeling that he had succeeded on his own. And he wanted to give us the benefit of a good education. When I went to school, it was very different from our parental upbringing.