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Sadhana Bhattacharyya was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Kripesh Chandra Bhattacharjee and Tripura Sundari Devi. Raised by a nationalist father and Communist mother, she was encouraged early on to engage with progressive politics, art and culture alongside formal education. The eldest of six children, she passed her matriculation examination with a first division in 1955. However, she was married the same year to a twenty-three year old government official who lived in Shillong. She resisted the marriage initially but eventually agreed as her future husband’s family promised to stand by her desire and decision to continue studies afterwards. And so, she studied until she graduated in 1960. The same year she was appointed as an Assistant Teacher in the Shillong Lower Primary School (later Shillong High School and now Shillong Higher Secondary School). In the mid-1960s she enrolled and completed the Bachelor of Teaching (BT) programme. A deeply committed and loving teacher, she taught English, Sanskrit and Mathematics for thirty-seven years.