Inspired by her father, a career diplomat and later president of India, and her mother who was Burmese, CHITRA NARAYANAN was bound for a global career. Numbered among her many roles are a mother, journalist, editor and publisher, Foreign Service Officer and Ambassador of India to five countries. Chitra now shares her leadership and cultural expertise as an independent consultant to high-level corporations and think-tanks around the world. She believes that excellence, creativity and strategy, above all else, are paramount to success.
You are the only person I know who actually interfaced with Mother Teresa. The relationship began with your father. Can you share highlights of his illustrative career with our readers?
My father, former President K. R. Narayanan, was an academic and a career diplomat and politician. After retirement from the Indian Foreign Service in 1978, he served as Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, was appointed as India’s Ambassador to the United States, later entered politics with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and, after her assassination, with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and was a member of his cabinet. He won 3 general elections. Afterwards, he was elected by all parties as Vice President of India and then elected as President of India from 1997 to 2002.
During those five years as president, he broke many molds. Was he known as a “Rule Breaker” because of his ability to think independently and do things that were less traditional?
I would say that he was extremely independent. In fact, he broke the mold when he was elected both Vice President and President because he was elected by all political parties, through consensus. All the press clippings from the time he was elected until he passed referred to him as the ‘Constitutional President.’ This was because he adhered to the spirit of the Constitution of India, no matter what party was in power. In India, the role of the presidency only comes into play when political parties hold no majority. India is a parliamentary democracy. The head of state and the president’s role is to solve issues when there is a minority government, a consensus government, or no party holding the majority.
My father faced many political crises during his tenure, which is why he became known as an independent thought leader. Political leaders from across all parties would come to him quietly for advice. The operative word is quietly because the Indian President does not give advice directly but influences others very much from behind the scenes. But because of his personality, his forming good relations across the political landscape, and therefore his ability to form consensus, his role actually became very unusual in the history of the Indian Presidency (except perhaps when it was first founded).
What was the first historical act your father did as president of India?
In 1997, just after he became President, in September of that year, Mother Teresa died. India had a new Prime Minister and a consensus minority government. With the death of Mother Teresa, my father was insistent that she should be given a state funeral. This was unheard of because a state funeral was historically only given for former Presidents and Prime Ministers. You can imagine it was quite a silent struggle because his leadership role was always behind the scenes.
I still remember the discussion when he came back at lunchtime. He said, “We have to have a state funeral because she is “above all.” She is an Indian citizen, but “she belongs to the world.” She had won the Nobel Peace Prize, if you recollect, in 1979. He felt, “She is above the world.” By the way, our state funerals are usually Hindu rites but also have all the rituals of the other religions of India, making it a multi-religious ceremony. He insisted, and finally, others came to understand that there was a purpose and point to his commitment.
When the State funeral happened in Calcutta, presidents, diplomats, and leaders from all over the world came. I remember President Chirac (France) attended, and President Clinton (United States) was represented by Mrs. Hillary Clinton, who arrived with a big delegation of religious leaders. It was an enormous affair because my father was right, “She belonged to the world.”
As a baby in Tokyo, Chitra with her mother and father who were the first internationally mixed couple of their generation, station, and culture.
What can you tell our readers about Mother Teresa?
Mother Teresa came to India before India was independent in 1928. When India became independent in 1947, she chose to become an Indian citizen. At the time, she took her vows to become a nun in the order of Loreto, and she was teaching at the Loreto school in Calcutta.
Let me rewind and go backward in history. Mother Teresa came to India from Albania. Do you know anything about her formative years?
I recollect reading that Mother Teresa was born in Albania but left in 1928 and joined the sisters of Loreto in Ireland, but not as a nun, as a novice. Later she came to India to teach, as a novice in the Loreto schools in Calcutta.
What is the difference between a novice and a nun?
No final vows have been taken as a novice; it is an intention and that initiates the process to become a nun.
How old was Mother Teresa at that point?
She was born in 1910, so she was 18 years old. When she moved to India, she began her work as a teacher. This was also just after the great Bengal famine, before India’s Independence from the British. This was the first time India had ever experienced a major famine. It was caused by the British, who placed a huge tax on agricultural goods like indigo and cotton and sent the products to England. India went from being one of the richest and most fertile countries in the world to experiencing a devastating famine for the first time. Mother Teresa experienced and saw the enormous poverty and suffering in Calcutta and realized that teaching was not enough, and that is extraordinary. She moved from teaching to dispensary and nursing training and started her work with the poor and the destitute. It was not enough to teach in the convent school.
In 1937, she took her final vows in the order of the Loreto nuns, but I believe that just after 1948, she left the Loreto nuns when she sought and received permission from Rome to found her own order, which was named Missionaries of Charity. The Missionaries of Charity was her idea, and hers alone, and was devoted to serving the dying and the destitute.
Two forces converged simultaneously in Mother Teresa’s life. First was the independence of India from colonization. The second is her “life shift,” which was to serve the destitute.
Yes, and she focused on this until the end of her life. She had no discrimination in anything she did. Mother Teresa would walk around the city where she found people dying without dignity or any assistance on the pavements—don’t forget, it was just after the famine.
The first thing she did was to set up a Hospice for the terminally ill. She made no discrimination regardless of their position in the class structure. She served anyone who was destitute in Calcutta. She brought the terminally ill or dying into the hospice she founded so that they died with dignity and in cleanliness. Can you imagine the state of the homeless at that time?
Next, she established a leper colony called Shanti Naga, which means “peace home,” for those who had nothing left. Imagine in those days setting up a leper colony with her nuns . . . as they nursed the inflicted lepers physically, themselves.
She then founded facilities for the aged, the dying, the abandoned (mothers or children), as well as the leper colony.
Mother Teresa’s focus was also on the hopeless.
Yes, exactly. And she gave them dignity in their final moments, in their broken condition. Do you know, at her funeral mass in 1997, at the church that her sister missionaries had organized, they had a leper bring in the Eucharist? Can you imagine the significance of that?
This shows the depth of the Missionaries of Charity and what an extraordinary order they are. She lived, and they all literally lived, in the same poverty as the people she was looking to help. I understand from a lady who worked very closely with Mother Teresa that none of the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity who lived in their center in the slums had fans or ventilators. There was only one fan in the public room where they would receive visitors. Calcutta is very hot with fluctuating tropical weather. She lived as she preached. I was told that she slept in the hottest room, which was located above the kitchen. In the literal meaning, she did not preach . . . BUT she impacted the world by example. Extraordinary!
Do you recall the first time you met Mother Teresa?
It was my first tour in Rome as a young diplomat. I was standing in the reception area waiting for someone when the door opened, and this tiny person whizzed in. She was wearing the distinctive habit that she had created, a habit that differed from nuns of other orders. Nuns with the Missionaries of Charity order wore a white sari with a blue and white border, which covered the head as well. She zipped in with her little cloth bag, looked around, and headed straight to the counter because she had to extend her passport. And, of course, the minute that happened, the whole Embassy staff surrounded her to help her in any way possible. Above all else, we wanted to greet her, and she, in turn, hastily greeted everybody. She was impatient. She wanted the job done . . . and she had come to get her passport renewed. My colleague, who was the head of the consular division, immediately took her to his office, assuring her that he would have the passport renewed as fast as possible. It was clear she was not interested in wasting a minute. So, she looked around impatiently, greeted us, and quickly went inside. We were all still waiting for her when she was finished, and she joined us to spend a little time with us, which, in hindsight, was the longest amount of time I actually shared with her. And look, it was just 1981, so she had not yet reached the international celebrity status she had later.
But you all knew who she was?
Of course, every person in India knows of Mother Teresa. She was part of our fabric. I mean, I have known of her ever since I can remember. She was just Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who looked after the destitute in the Calcutta slums. We all knew that. She was a living saint. She has always been respected because she lived such a simple life. She literally had to work hard and traveled all over the world to raise funds for the centers that she founded. The responsibility she shouldered to finance the order was huge. She worked hard at making change and used to sit in Government offices to get permits for water and electricity. Mother Teresa approached Governments asking them to sign all the papers and persuade them to help those that were in need. You know bureaucracy . . . and yet she did everything herself so people would help her. She leveraged this all over the world.
Was she feisty?
Oh, totally. What a great word to describe her, Karen. You always can come up with just the right word. She was feisty. She had the kindest eyes and was full of energy. There was this wall of energy surrounding her. I was a young diplomat, but I knew when I first laid eyes on her that this lady had more energy than our entire Embassy put together. When she looked at you, she looked at you. She had time for you. She was also so sharp and shrewd. She was a tremendous fundraiser throughout the world, and she knew it. She had to fundraise for homes in 139 countries. Missionaries of Charity came from nothing. She worked hard with presidents, queens, and kings…everyone to get support, to open all these missionaries. They now have 762 missions, all of which she made happen. And feisty, yes, she was totally feisty.
You know, I just realized something, Karen, which I have unconsciously carried in my bag, this little medal of Our Lady, which she gave to me. I have two, the one Mother Teresa gave me and the other of Our Lady of Ephesus given to me by my sister.
Chitra (second from left) with Consul General of India, K. R. Narayanan (far right) and Usha Naranayan (left) at meeting with President Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam, Hanoi, 1962.
Can you just take it out of your purse and hold it up? I want our readers to see this.
You know, she was such a subconscious part of my life. I didn’t even remember this medal until now…
Oh, it is beatutiful! And she gave that to you?
Yes, she gave it to everyone she met with her blessings.
Can you please tell me the story of Mother Teresa in Kenya with Pope John Paul II?
Yes. In 1985 I was Deputy High Commissioner in Kenya, in Nairobi. This also happened to be the 43rd International Eucharistic Congress, and the Ambassador was out of the country, so I was the Acting Ambassador. In that capacity, I attended the formal ceremony at the airport for the arrival of Pope John Paul II, who came to Kenya for a state visit and the Eucharistic Congress in 1985. Representatives from all of the embassies were in a line, and His Holiness greeted every one of us, one by one. I still remember, because I greeted him in Italian. Nothing unusual, so he goes down the line… And just after he passed me, I noticed a jeep driving toward us, a proper military-type jeep! and who was driving it? Mother Teresa. The jeep came in, she jumped out of the jeep, and she just literally ran to him. And he turned, you know, he was so fond of her. He turned around to her, embraced her, and gave her a kiss and blessing on the forehead. She, in turn, handed him something, probably some paperwork to be signed. She needed something. And she gave it to him, and he signed it. And then he gave her another kiss and blessed her; she zipped back and jumped into the jeep, and off like that, she was gone.
She was a force.
Not even a force of nature. She was a force of God. I tell you, she was driven by something. She was determined that her cause would be fulfilled and to make sure that everybody on the planet was on board and contributed.
Was that the last time you saw her face to face?
I did see her once after that in New Delhi at a big event. We did not get a chance to talk, but we were together. You know the thing with Mother Teresa, and every Indian would say this, not just me, the minute you saw her, we would automatically greet her, and she would greet us, and she would give her blessings to all. All Indians greet with the Namaste.
Your hands are clasped together in a prayer, and you?
Bow your head. This is a formal greeting to any elder and for somebody you really respect, a leader, Mother Teresa. You know, every Indian, it didn’t matter what religion or where you came from, she was loved. She was loved.
Did she have detractors?
You know, many did not understand what she was trying to accomplish. Hers was an order that practiced poverty. It was not easy for others who did not emulate her to embrace it.
She was doing things that no others were willing to do. I think she was looked at with awe. It couldn’t have been easy for others to see that selflessness and sacrifice.
When I was in Stockholm as ambassador in 2002, two nuns of the Missionaries of Charity asked to meet with me. And, of course, they were amazing because, despite their circumstances, the sisters were always smiling and cheerful. We are talking about Sweden and there, the sisters do not use hot water; they wash all their clothes and laundry in cold water in winter. They do not use any artificial electrical gadgets. They live a simple life.
They came to me asking if I could help them find a place to do their work. Because, they said, in Europe there are many abandoned women who came to them destitute. And they wanted a location for these women to congregate. I asked, “Where are you managing now?” The nun said, “The Franciscan monks are allowing us to use part of a hall, but we want a place where we can wash clothes and receive people.”
I was so upset. There was a memorial meeting, a mass for Mother Teresa on her anniversary at a church, so I invited the Governor of Stockholm and his wife. He said, “An Indian Ambassador, asking me for a Catholic mass for Mother Teresa.” I said, “Well, this is what India is about, so please join us.” I wanted him to meet the nuns.
So, he came, and we attended the mass. And mind you, this is in a Lutheran country. I must mention something else. After the mass, there were tables laid out in the courtyard, and of course, no food was provided, which is the Missionary of Charities way. Once everybody was seated on the benches, all the attendees from the public took out their little lunch packets and sandwiches, cookies, or whatever they had brought, placed them on the table, and shared. Suddenly, there was enough for everyone present. I can’t tell you, Karen, I was so moved. It showed what the spirit of generosity in all humans can do. I just didn’t know what to say but silently prayed. The nuns brought the water . . .
Anyhow, I explained their needs to the governor and his wife . . . “Can you do anything to help . . . just give a hall or building? Can the municipality donate something?”
“He would try,” he said. He tried.We later received communication from the municipality. It was very interesting because we were told, “In Sweden, we don’t have destitutes or poverty, so we don’t need the mission.”
So, what did the Missionaries of Charity do?
Chitra as Ambassador of India to the Holy See (Vatican), congratulating His Holiness Pope Frances on his election, 2013.
Two to three nuns still work from the Franciscan Hall and have a small, donated apartment in Stockholm.
India is primarily what religion?
In 1947, India became independent. We did not have a state religion. India was a constitutionally secular country. We are a multi-religious country with many minorities. The population is mainly Hindu. In 1947, the British partitioned India and Pakistan with a significant Muslim population in Pakistan and now Bangladesh. Many Muslims remained in India. India also has one of the world’s oldest Jewish and Christian populations. St. Thomas brought Christianity soon after the death of Christ to Southern India, to Kerala, and founded the Syrian Christian Church. From a historical context, the old Syrian Christian church, which you also have in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, is also in Kerala. But we have many denominations of Christianity in India.
India has a secular constitution with diverse religions with which you and your father developed relationships. Two religious notables are Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. What is their common theme?
They both lived simply.
Tell me about the Dalai Lama. How did he come to India?
India gave refuge to the Dalai Lama. I can’t remember the exact date, maybe 1959, when he escaped from Tibet, China, and was received in India. India gave him a small town, Dharamshala, in the Himalayas, supported by the Government of India till today.
My father had a very special relationship with His Holiness. My father was a diplomat in charge of the China Division, and that is where he first met the Dalai Lama. From 1967 until my father’s death, they were very close friends. In fact, when I called on His Holiness in Switzerland in Bern—because every time His Holiness visits a foreign country, the Indian ambassadors quietly receive him—he just looked at me and said, “You are my best friend’s daughter,” and just held my hand. I was humbled and taken aback as he started telling me stories about my father, of which I had no idea, absolutely no idea.
What was happening in the world at that time, and what role did your father play?
My father oversaw the China Division, which was very challenging because China had always been a big neighbor, and India had many boundary conflicts, especially after India lost a war with China in 1962. My father became a recognized China expert. India broke off relations with China when they invaded in 1962.
Seventeen years later, when relations were normalized, and Indian ambassadorial relations were resumed, my father was chosen by Indira Gandhi to be the first ambassador to renew ambassadorial-level relations. And the same gentleman, Ambassador Chen Zhaoyuan, who had been the representative in Delhi 17 years before, was appointed the 1st Chinese ambassador to India in 1976.
That is fascinating.
Diplomatic relationships spanning decades helped build peace. I mentioned this because when I had the privilege of accompanying my parents on a state visit to China in 2000, the President of China, Jiang Zemin, arranged a big banquet and reception. In attendance was retired Ambassador Chen Zhaoyuan. We had a wonderful conversation. Then he looked across the room to where my parents were standing. I have to say, he was extremely charismatic and very charming. He then pointed to my father and said, “Look at your father, so much charm, that smile, but a spine of steel.” I never have forgotten those words. Actually, I don’t even know if I told my father this.
Receiving His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Geneva, Switzerland. He has autographed the photograph. The translation reads: “I wish and hope for the best for you all the time, while remembering vividly your father and my friend, the former President. With my prayers for your well being and success always.”
Dalai Lama
a Buddhist Monk
17/4/2013
Let’s talk further about the man who called your father “his closest friend,” the Dalai Lama, His Holiness.What was he like when he walked into a room?
Oh! He radiated this amazing warmth. I do not say the peace or the spiritual word, but rather an amazing warmth . . . a love for humanity, and affection. And for many, it is his smile and laugh, which everybody has seen and is extraordinary—a man who experienced enormous suffering in Tibet. As a young boy being totally immersed in his vocation and destiny, and yet he has an enormous sense of humor.
Was he highly intelligent?
Oh, yes. Very intelligent, very sharp, very perceptive. He comes straight to the point and has huge political instincts and a brilliant mind. He has carried and upheld the Tibetan cause until today, though he has given up his leadership role and passed it on. But his whole message surrounds the importance of peace.
Let us go back to his formative years.Can you tell the readers about his immense suffering in Tibet?
This is just from what I have read. You know, as a child, the Dalai Lamas are chosen by the senior monks who have a certain criterion they look for. Whichever little boy reveals these signs, which nobody else knows, can be selected. The senior monks chose him. As a little boy, he was separated from his mother and brought up in the monastery in Lhasa. This is a lonely life of solitude and being raised in the Scriptures. He is taught from childhood his role.
Martin Scorsese’s 1997 film Kundun, on the life of the Dalai Lama, is interesting in this context.
The Dalai Lama lived at the time in Tibet, which was occupied by the Chinese. As they commenced to take over the monasteries, the senior monks thought it was more prudent that he leave. He trekked across Tibet into India. The Dalai Lama was granted residency in India where he was better able to freely exercise his leadership role in that type of Buddhism. Since then, he has always lived in India, in Dharamsala, which is an amazing, tiny little town up in the Himalayas foothills.
You said the idea of peace is paramount to his existence.
It is paramount today and was paramount in all his lectures all over the world. Just two years ago, he stopped traveling and giving lectures. Peace has been his real and dominant message, above all. He was perturbed by the fact that peace remains so relevant, even today, and his whole message has always been that nations should live in peace.
Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama both lived very simple lives, yet there were profound differences in the ways they impacted the world. How do you describe that?
Mother Theresa was very much totally focused on the work of the Missionaries of Charity, which was not only for the slums of Calcutta but all over the world, in big cities for people anywhere deprived, destitute, and with illness. She lived to serve them, and her total focus was to finance and support the Missionary. Her nuns lived by example like her. And she really raised the recognition of the work and fought for it. She fought hard for it. She fought with leaders and made them recognize the need for such missions.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader with political influence. He believed in spreading the message about two things. One is that he always wanted the possibility for the Tibetans to return to China. That was his ultimate hope, which is not likely to happen. But he still works for it. He overcame everything. He met leaders from China, with the hope that the Tibetans could go home to Lhasa.
Secondly, he traveled all over the world to bring out in human nature and to recognize the importance of peace through consensus and tolerance.
My mantra is tolerance because I realize that fundamental to world peace is tolerance. You cannot have peace without the ability to understand the other side’s needs, aspirations, and, therefore, tolerance. The Tibetans also do a lot of charitable work, but obviously, there is such a great need for their own refugees all over the world. They have centers with their own representatives. But it is not a charitable organization. That is a difference.
The Dalai Lama also gave you something.
Yes. It is a blessed Buddha, and the scarf is what he put around me. You know the Tibetan greeting.
As we bring this to a close, is it fair to say Mother Teresa changed the world through her works, and the Dalai Lama changed the world through his knowledge and quest for peace?
Yes.
And you, my precious Chitra, how does faith play into this, and you in particular?
As far as I’m concerned, very deep personal faith. It comes in the form of prayer. I love praying in a church, in a quiet temple, in a quiet monastery, in nature, preferably.
Was humility the essence of Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama’s faith?
Yes, because they recognize that what gifts they had were not of their own making; therefore, there was no ego. Their strength comes from above, or a greater entity, whatever anybody would like to call it. They are just the vehicles of this entity. They had been given their quality, or the gift, or whatever you call it . . . it was what had been given to them.