Hyderabad: Meeting Mother Teresa changed his outlook towards fellow human beings, especially the poor and downtrodden in society, retired IAS officer Dr. S. Chellappa, who got the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa when he was collector of Srikakulam district in undivided Andhra Pradesh, said.
“We built a leper colony and she was invited for the inauguration. The moment she arrived, she picked up the child of one of the leprosy affected mothers and started cuddling her. She did that without any worry. I got the impression of a saint, at that time. Although I built the leper colony, I never went close to them or drank a glass of water. But seeing Mother Teresa do so without any hesitation changed me for the rest of my life,” he added.
Former IAS officer S. Chellappa seen with Mother Teresa when she visited Srikakulam to inaugurate a colony for leprosy-affected persons that he build when he was collector of the district in 1988.
After the incident, Dr Chellappa read her autobiography written by Navin Chawla to know more about her life. Contrary to criticism from some quarters that she was into conversion — which she had denied — the retired bureaucrat felt that Mother Teresa did yeomen service.
Earlier, at a special prayer to mark her canonisation, organised by St Mary’s Baslica at Mother Teresa’s statue near Keyes High School in Secunderabad, Archbishop Thumma Bala recalled the services Mother Teresa.
Sister Bertina said that she became a nun after meeting Mother Teresa in 1978.
