An American woman, Caroline Dall, wrote a biography of Anandi in 1888. Thanks to archive.org, it is available as a free download. The book does a superb job of portraying Anandi’s character and personality and her challenges and triumphs.
The book contains a “mental photograph”- a list of about twenty questions and answers ranging from the mundane (favorite color) to the profound (life purpose). Anandi’s mental photograph is as revealing of her motivations and beliefs as a conventional photograph would be of a person’s outward appearance. When I first read the Dall book, the words that jumped at me, and that have stayed with me ever since, are the response to the second-to-last question:
What is your aim? To be useful.
I cannot think of a more concise and powerful way to express one’s life purpose. Indeed, I am not sure that most people would be able to come up with a mission statement that is as brief and as bold and as forthright as what Anandi stated in three simple words, in a language that was foreign to her, over 100 years ago, at the young age of eighteen.
Since the biography is the story of Anandi’s experiences as she pursued her mission, the three simple words serve as a perfect summary of a life lived with thoughtfulness, energy and idealism.