What Mother Teresa meant to Indranil Lahiri, an ex-student of St James

I was an out-standing student of my class. Which is to say, I (and a couple of friends) spent a good deal of our schooldays standing outside the class!

The school didn’t know what to do with us, neither did our parents. And we were clueless as to why the principal would hit the roof every time we skipped history for football or tried to make a bomb in the chemistry lab.

When our parents were called for the 17th time that year, we knew we were in BIG trouble. We were loitering outside our school, trying to gather our wits about us before heading home when we spotted Mother House on the opposite footpath. I don’t remember whose idea it was, but we found ourselves walking across the road and entering the building. We wanted to see Mother Teresa. And she received us.

We spoke our hearts out, complained bitterly about our “unfair” teachers and “cruel” parents. She listened with so much compassion. She told us we must trust our parents. “They are your true friends,” she said.

We went back to Mother a couple of times after that too, when we were down and needed someone to hear us out. And Mother always made time for this bunch of unruly boys.

Back then, we didn’t realise the enormity of our interactions. Today, it seems unbelievable that we imposed on her time so much.

Mother not only gave us a patient hearing, she even acted on our behalf. Once when she deemed that one of us was being unfairly punished, she called up the principal and got the punishment revoked.

The frail old woman in a white sari became our hero. For life.

What memories do you have of Mother Teresa? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com