When I first told my classmates that I was to come and speak here this evening, they told me no one would understand my accent. Then they asked if they could all come join me on stage !!
Over the past 12 months I have had the opportunity to reconnect with several of my classmates from around the world, several of whom I had not seen in 35 years. The thing that struck me is that each and every one of them is an absolutely incredible woman. They are daughters, sisters, mothers, homemakers and career women. There are lawyers, teachers, doctors, mathematicians, IT people, I don’t think there are any politicians or nuns. This school and the teachers have equipped us to handle the challenges and opportunities of our times.
Those of us who went to school here in the late 60s and 70s are especially fortuntate, for we had Sr Maria Rosa as our principal.
Sr Maria Rosa came with her own special brand of energy and enthusiasm for everything she did – be it playing the violin at assembly or cultivating her roses – everytime I see a multi-colored rose, I am transported back in time to when I was in the 7th standard being introduced to Sr. Maria Rosa’s roses.
But there was a lot more that Sr Maria Rosa did for us. She got us our first library. And that library has instilled a lifelong love of reading amongst several of us.
She had us compete in the Paranjyothi choir contest – and we won.
On the technology front, she was well ahead of her times. Businesses are only recently getting comfortable with concepts like Audio calls and Voice calls. Back in 1968, Sr Maria Rosa had intercoms installed and started conducting Morning Assembly remotely.
My class mate Sita reminded me that you had introduced us to the Speed Reading - SRE system in our school. And to particularly thank you for that.
For me personally, it is the memory of the Valentine Day’s Fete – a 3 day event. I later heard you describe it as “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. Your conduct of the entire event was a lesson to me personally, a lesson in courage and execution.
In preparing for this evenings address, I polled my classmates from around the world – and yes there are many who could not be with us today, though they are wishing they could have been – I asked them if they had any special messages for you Sr. Maria Rosa.
From around the world, the answer was unanimous :”Tell sister we love her.Tell her we remember her in our prayers and in the way we live our lives.
Thank you sister for leaving such a strong and indelible mark on all of us.
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