When the late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India and veteran scientist, said he wanted to be remembered as a "good teacher", it might have seemed strange that a man with such a meritorious career, measured his worth so simply. "Teaching is a very noble profession," he had said, "It shapes the character, calibre, and future of an individual." London-based Shireen Isal would relate to these words, more so. Nothing otherwise can explain the 72-year-old's dogged determination to pursue the story of her French teacher nearly 20 years after her death, and self-publish a book on her, titled Zenobia Mistri: A Teacher Par Excellence. The book, which released this month, is now available at the Parsiana Bookshop in Fort, as well as on their website (parsiana.com).

Few would know that Mistri - she was the first Indian woman to be admitted to the Institut de Civilisation Indienne', Sorbonne University (renamed 'Institut d'études indiennes' in 2000 and, since 1973, attached to the 'College de France') in 1931, for a Doctorat d'Université' in French - was one of the most renowned teachers of French language and literature in mid-20th-century Bombay.