Mannu Kala Part 1

Mannu Kala has lived an extraordinary life. He grew up in Kashmir, nestled in the majestic Himalayas, one of the most strikingly beautiful areas of the world, but it’s also a place of ongoing and at times extreme violence through territorial and religious conflict. As a boy, danger was never far away from Mannu, from soldier’s rifles pointed in his direction to random bomb blasts on the streets where he lived, he still carries shrapnel in his body as a solemn reminder of those dangerous times.

Today he is a very wealthy and successful businessman on the Gold Coast, a far cry from his arrival here just 12 years ago with next to nothing in his pocket to study at Griffith University. Mannu’s journey has been so extraordinary that it almost defies belief, it’s the kind of tale that sounds like something straight out of a movie and he’s still only 36 years old.

In the first chapter of this two part episode we explore what Mannu's life was like growing up in Kashmir, his political awakening as a student in a crime laden city of India and the unintended circumstances that led him to apply out of the blue for a student visa to study on the Gold Coast - a move that would transform his life.