Sutapa

Behram’s aunt Sutapa was one of the “Ashtha sakhies” of The Mother; who played tennis with Her. She was a Parsi lady, petite and very smart. When I joined the school in 1953 she was a teacher of English for younger students. For a period she left school and worked in another department; but later joined the school as in charge of our Typing and Cyclostyle department.

Prior to 1953 how was the preparation for the celebration of 1st and 2nd December; how the school annual recess was spent by the young Ashram inmates (for in those days there was none who was only a student. If The Mother accepted someone, he or she became a member of The Ashram family.) But what I saw is this: The school academic year began on 9th of December (later it had shifted to 16th of December) and closed on 30th October. These five weeks were meant to prepare the grand celebration of the Anniversary of the school and also of the Department of Physical Education. Irrespective of age those who wished and were willing to work earnestly during these weeks participated whole heartedly.

These five weeks were also the period for the school to be ready for the new academic year. Thus the lists of the students promoted from one class to the next; the allotment of teachers, the Time-Table for the new session, there are a number of things to be done before the 16th of December. But most important being the students’ list and the Time Table. These lists were drawn by the section Teachers and then handed over to Arati-di for typing (At present they are done on the computer). Arati-di had and  has the responsibility to see that all these lists were properly handwritten and have everything like the name of the teachers, the number of periods, the room allotted for the classes are noted down. She used to go through them and then only pass them to the Typing section; for Sutapa’s work was faultless. She was a perfectionist. Any small object she found interesting transformed in her hand to a work of art. She never sent anyone a chit on a plain paper. There would always either be a small drawing, painting or a collage.

Thus one can very well imagine what she expected of the others.

In the department two young ladies helped her. Tulsa who is a French teacher and Manjari and there was Kailasbhai for the cyclostyle section. Manjari and Tulsa typed the lists but we have always seen three sets of lists. There were those that were put up for the students, one that was kept for the teachers and one that went to The Mother for Her perusal and signature. This particular set was done by Sutapa. She didn’t mind typing a list a few times provided the mistakes found were unavoidable, but a careless mistake was never pardoned. And woe to the teacher who left one, for he or she had to face her ire, and that was an experience. No teacher wished to face it a second time. Sutapa’s labour for The Mother was a labour of love and offering, and thus she could never send anything not quite perfect.

I came to know her a little more closely when she began to eat in “Corner House”. Krishnalal-ji, Sutapa and I sat on the same table for lunch at least. At the table Krishnalal-ji was the listener and we talked. She was very frank so gave her mind without any hesitation. Naturally a lot of people avoided her. Only a few knew of her softer side. I came to know about it in 1977 when I had a major operation. I was admitted to JIPMER and she tried to visit me as many times as possible in a week though she had allergy to petrol smell. Whenever she couldn’t she sent me a note with a lot of encouragement. Sometimes writing about what were the events of interest on that particular day. Those small notes were so touching that I preserved a few of them.

On the day of the operation she reached the hospital in the morning with a “Blessing packet”. I was then already sedated. She touched my forehead and softly said, “Don’t be afraid; The Mother will be with you all along”.

My incident shows how concerned she was regarding the health of those who had some relation with her. But regarding her own health she never let anyone know. If she was really unwell and didn’t come to school only then we realized that she needed some help. Therefore after a period of illness when one day she left us, we didn’t know how unwell she had been lately. After her demise it was found out that she had an extremely weak heart of which she never spoke to anyone, not even to her nephew or sister or her brother-in-law.