An Interview by Vimla Patil

Vimla Patil and myself

During the month of November, in the year 1981, I had gone to Calcutta with my husband. I had a strong desire to meet Mother Teresa. So I set out. Very strangely people, after having directed me to the right street, could not point out the exact location. So I paced back and forth several times. I finally discovered that the Mother lived on a street behind the one on which I was looking for her. I went inside. Mother was busy with a couple who was looking for a child to adopt. Soon after I was asked to enter. As soon as I saw Mother I fell on my knees and kissed her hand.

I said " I will not take much of your time, I just wanted to have the privilege of being in your presence."

Mother gently told me: "We are all born for a purpose, What I can do, maybe you cannot. But what you are meant to do, I may not be able to".

Following is an excerpt of an Interview by Vimla Patil
which appeared in 'The Sunday Free Press'
dated October19, 1997 : Mother Teresa's message

Shakun Kimatrai is one of the few Mumbaites who had the pleasure of meeting Mother Teresa personally. Proud possessor of an autograph of  the great Nobel Prize winner for world peace, Shakun happily shares the Mother's message with everyone:

"Listen to your inner voice and follow what it tells you. Everyone in this life is born to accomplish a mission. Hence follow the inner command and you will always be happy"  Mother Teresa-28 November 1981. Calcutta.

This is not all. The message has penetrated so deeply into the life of Shakun Kimatrai-the bahu of one of Mumbai's  affluent families-that at her classes of meditation and creative skills, she constantly discusses topics related to the Mother's message. 

The Mother knew that everyone cannot  lift a leper or a dying child from the street to look after.  Princess Diana who was a royal could shake hands with an Aids sufferer without hesitation. Everyone cannot do this...

However we all could do our bit by at least looking after the elderly members of our own family or/and sponsoring some needs of a needy child. Let us not,  in our hurry-scurry to make fast bucks reject our responsibility towards our old parents or our elderly parents in-law...

Sunday, October 01, 2006

When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was believed that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem. Read it, and see your 'old' relatives in a new light. I have always said, it is not possible for any of us to be 'Mother Teresa' but we can at least look after our aging relatives and offer them a dignified old age and death...that much we owe them!

Crabby Old Woman
What do you see, nurses ......... What do you see?
What are you thinking ............. When you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman ................ Not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, ................. With faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food .............. And makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice, .. "I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice ......... The things that you do,
And forever is losing ................ A stocking or shoe?
Who, resisting or not, .............. Lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, ........ The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? ..... Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, .......You're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am ............... As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, ........... As I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten ...........With a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters ................ Who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen ..............With wings on her feet
Dreaming that soon now ......... A lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty, ............. My heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows .......... That I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, ................ I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide .............. And a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, ................... My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other ................. With ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons ............ Have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me ........... To see I don't mourn
At fifty once more, ................... Babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, ........... My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, ........... My husband is dead,
I look at the future, ................. I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .......Young of their own,
And I think of the years ............. And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old woman................ And nature is cruel;
Tis jest to make old age .......... Look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, ............... Grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone ................. Where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass ......... A young girl still dwells,
And now and again, .................. My battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, ................. I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living ............ Life over again.
I think of the years ................. All too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact ........... That nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people, ...... Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; ............ Look closer....see, ME!!
Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might
brush aside without looking at the young soul within.....we will all, one day,
be there, too!

...And a 'friend' who has known me since childhood wrote this:

My dear Vimlu (my maiden name),
I see YOU.
Images and mannerisms may change but
the eternal heart never grows.

......... A young girl still dwells,
And now and again, .................. My battered
heart swells.
I remember the joys, ................. I remember the
pain,
I think of the years ................. All too few,
gone too fast,

So open your eyes, people, ...... Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; ............ Look
closer....see, ME!!