In her lifetime, Eunice de Souza published four volumes of poetry, two novels and edited several anthologies of poems and essays. She retired in 2000 as head of the department of English, St Xavier’s College. She passed away in her sleep on the morning of July 29 at her Mumbai residence. This photograph was taken on her birthday in 2015. Pic/Lindsay Pereira

I met Eunice de Souza when I was 17 and she, 52. She was head of the department of English Literature at St Xavier's College; I, a callow youth hoping to be part of a very small list of people allowed to pick that subject as a major for their Bachelor's degrees. She interviewed me to see if I was qualified to enter her hallowed circle, and told me it was perfectly okay for me to wear a cap in her class if I chose to, which I thought was remarkable considering most other professors threw a fit at the sight of one. It was my first inkling of the fact that she was like no other.