Indu Jolly was born in 1942 and lives in Faridabad, Haryana. She retired as a museum curator at the Jawaharlal Nehru Museum in 2002, at the age of 60. Her family placed great emphasis on education. She completed school in 1959 at St. Thomas' Higher Secondary School. She then earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in history from Delhi University's Lady Shree Ram College. During her college days, she also prepared for entrance examinations for government jobs.
She began her museum career as head of the manuscripts section, handling and organising historical records and documents that were later used in histories and books for the Central Board of Secondary Education. She was later promoted to assistant to the curator and then became museum curator, a position she held for many years.
She worked at the museum for 38 years before retiring. She now receives a lifelong pension and has spent her retirement comfortably, surrounded by her family.
She takes pride in her career and work ethic and has maintained personal connections with people from her former workplace.