To Mrs. Matthew:

It all started when I first entered your cabin on a fine day in March. Dressed in my school-uniform, with my short hair tucked neatly behind a black hairband and wearing clean polished black shoes, I looked the perfect student. My mother had the papers in her hand and all I could do was look around, a little dazed and a little overwhelmed by the clean white walls, the formal and quiet atmosphere, and by the brown door with a window. I could become a part of this school, I thought, in the next few minutes.
Hiding behind my mother, I entered the Principal's office. The atmosphere was quite intense; mostly because of the person sitting behind the Principal's desk. I was so scared I even forgot to wish you a 'Good Afternoon', Mrs. Matthew; something I had practised for hours together before coming there.
As my mother answered all the questions, I stood timidly next to her. I was so tiny, I hardly was any taller than my mom sitting in the chair. All I could think of, was "Please let this get over fast. I don't want to stand here any more and make more a fool of myself. Can't even wish the Principal a 'Good Afternoon' properly..."
In the 6 years that I spent in this school, I never got over that fear. Going to the Principal's office was one of the most arduous tasks I had to face. Yet, today when I look back, there's something special about that fear, and the feeling I had when I was in your office.
St. Mary's is a name that stands tall only because of the efforts you put in, the risks you took, the instincts you followed and because of the products that came out of the school. We are called snobbish, arrogant and, at times, even self-centred. But what remains unsaid is despite all those tags, we are considered good and confident individuals that every one wants to be.
The six years that I spent in St. Mary’s under the protective care of your hand turned me into somebody I wouldn’t even have dreamt of becoming when I first entered the school. Having stepped out of that protection into the real world, the real me has shown herself and I couldn’t be happier with what I see myself as. It’s a dream I had and today I do see myself close enough to that person. All this, because of the efforts one hell of a woman. The years I spent in Mary’s are sacred. It took a while to get out of there and move on; to close a big chapter of my life and write a second. In the process, I just locked all those memories away, to remain as raw and pure as ever, to never fade into the darkness of oblivion.
Today, however, the lock was broken and, as I recalled that barrage of memories, I could not stop to ask, “Why?!” I did not know you personally. I was one of the 100 students you had in your school. To me, you were the Principal. Yet, the impact that you had was immense. Today, as I sit to write this, I just want to thank you for all the lives you’ve touched unknowingly. We always looked up to you. We always knew that when Mrs. Matthew was there, things just couldn’t go wrong.
I’ve always wanted to come back to Mary’s and you are the one thread that ties me back to the school I love so much. Now that the thread has suddenly untied itself, I don’t even seem to know that place anymore; the place where my school stood at one point of time. I’ve suddenly become orphaned of the one place which made a Person, and it is unreal to experience such loneliness.
I will always miss you, Mrs. Matthew. You moulded me into what I am today. And I could never string words together to thank you enough for that.

Yours sincerely,