Sir,

Today, 26th September, marks Sr. Annette’s birthday — an occasion that invariably (barring the past year) had me scurrying over to Nirmala Convent to greet dear Sr. Annette. She would welcome and accept my greetings and a hug, as if I had brought her a pot of gold! Thereon a happy hour was spent, with her concernedly ferreting how I was coping at the farm and making affectionate enquiries of my daughter and my brother whom she knew very well too.

My (late) husband and I first got to know Sr. Annette when our daughter Simone joined Teresian College and Sr. Annette was the Principal. We felt an instant rapport and we were content that our daughter would have Sr. Annette as a mentor to see her through her initial collegiate years. Sr. Annette would often delight in Simone’s girlish witticisms and puns!

At that time, as ‘new-comers’ to Mysore, my husband and I were in the midst of developing a piece of land as a farm. Sr. Annette showed interest in our doings and involved herself with her prayers and suggestions at the turns and impediments one came across. She would also come, thanks to our good friends The Dasans, who would sometimes include her in their visits to us.

A few times, on her way to visit a Convent that is located well away and past our farm, she with her Sister companions, would drive the extra mile to see how we were progressing. Sr. Annette was full of compassion, wisdom… and fun. Once, we invited her to stay on and have lunch with us and when we offered her wine — with a chuckle and her lovely smile she said, “I don’t know if I’m wrong in accepting… the Lord should forgive me!” and making the sign of the Cross and choosing a home-made wine, she had a sip or two from a tiny glass!

Many years later, after the demise of my husband, she would now and then phone to enquire after my welfare. Her most precious and lasting gift to my daughter and me, is a verse she’d known and which she wrote and brought to us when she attended the ‘11th day obsequies’ of my husband, performed at our farm. Later she told me she had tweaked a word or two of the original verse, for in her own words “…as I felt would suit the truly loving family, I’ve come to know so well.”

Her gesture and the verse SO MOVED us that I had it engraved on the marble slab of my husband’s simple memorial. To this day it leaves us with a feeling of solace and strength as we come upon it…

Dear Sr. Annette you have deeply touched countless hearts, for you lived FROM YOUR HEART — and in these countless hearts you will live forever more!

PS: Even though ‘Your Gandhee’ (KBG) laments being unable to send a customary Xmas cake this year to you, I imagine this birthday, you will be partaking ‘angel-cake’ with your Heavenly (winged) compatriots Up There!

– Kitty Mandana, Mysuru, 26.9.2021

Note: The part of the verse that was engraved on the marble slab of the correspondent’s husband’s memorial, according to her, was ‘I am in peace dear ones in the beauty of Everlasting Light.’—Ed

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