Rekha was born on 31 October 1958, in the city of
Bangalore,
Karnataka. Rekha was the younger of two sisters and her parents were
South India while she was looked after mostly by her mother as her father was an Indian air force pilot. She joined the
fine arts academy of the
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1976, at a time when the city of witnessing the emergence of a hipster culture and the rise of a number of pre-eminent contemporary artists such as
Bhupen Khakhar,
Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and
Jyoti Bhatt. The marriage broke down while she was pregnant which led to divorce and her becoming a single mother while still in college. During this period, her parents began to take care of her son which allowed her to continue her education. On returning to India, Rodwittiya received a teaching appointment at the MS University of Baroda but it not renewed due to her outspoken
feminist views which were considered controversial. She also met the artist Surendran Nair during this time, who became a close friend of hers and eventually married her in 1985. ==References==