SHILLONG: He got infected by poliovirus and was abandoned as an infant by his parents in Kolkata. Rescued by Mother Teresa, who gave him a new life, Gautam Lewis dared to set the sky as his limit.
A commercial pilot himself, Lewis started a flying school for people with disabilities. He has also made a mark in photography and filmmaking and owns a digital company.
Lewis, who was adopted from the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata by a British nuclear physicist, owes his life to Mother Teresa. He is currently in Shillong to promote the Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF), in which his film, “Mother Teresa and Me” was screened.
“It is amazingly brilliant that Shillong got the festival in the first two days after she (Mother Teresa) became a saint,” he said.
Narrating the close relationship he had with Mother Teresa, an emotional Lewis said, “I visited her tomb on September 4, the day she was canonised. People were allowed to leave a message and my message said, ‘Dear St Teresa, thank you for life’. I was on the verge of tears because it was an overwhelming experience for me to realise what life really means.”
Recalling that he last visited India at the age of 18, eight months before Mother Teresa died, Lewis said, “I came back to India months before she died. It was almost like the last goodbye. She gave me words of wisdom that I have kept all my life. She had said, ‘Nothing is difficult, just different. If you cannot find anybody to help you (Contd on P-7)
Child rescued…
(Contd from P-3) achieve what you want to do, do it on your own.”
“I felt that my responsibility was to take those wise words and make most of my life so I started a flying squad for people with disabilities called Freedom in the Air. I am a filmmaker, photographer, and I have a digital company,” an inspired Lewis said.
He expressed a yearning to have a home in Kolkata. He said, “Although I am not in the race to start the home, I will stay in Kolkata from November to March.”
An enthusiastic person, Lewis said for the next 12 months, he will travel the world to showcase the film and photography to highlight the change that Mother Teresa was known for.
He had lived with Mother Teresa for 5 years, left India at the age of 7, and came to London. He attended the same prep school as Prince Charles.
