A 17-year-old on a school trip to the mother-cum-manager accompanying the world’s No.10 chess player on a tournament tour — Lotis Key’s two visits to the city, 40 years apart, have only the Mother House in common.

Key’s first destination when she stepped out of her hotel after arriving in the city with Grandmaster Wesley So on Monday was Mother House, “because of the great influence” the earlier visit had on her life.

The visit had been “jarring” and yet an “an eye- opener” even though she had seen Mother Teresa only from a distance and did not have a chance to speak to her. “I had a protected life till then. But I saw a lot of ill people on that trip and saw what kind of inner calling was required to be able to selflessly serve these people,” Key said.

“The trip was for some of us thought to be of a religious mindset to visit Mother House so that we could decide if wanted to dedicate our lives to others,” Key said.

She did not become a nun but back in Manila, where she studied at Daughters of St Paul School, she started spending time at Hospicio de San Jose, an orphanage where mothers left children they could not take care of.

After moving to Minnesota in the US in 1986, she helped at least 60 children from time to time. Caring for the less unfortunate or those in need of support was something she imbibed from the life and works of Mother Teresa.

Key also shared with So, who she adopted about five years ago and helped turn professional, “the kind of influence Mother House had on me all those years ago”.

In town for Tata Steel Chess India 2018, in association with The Telegraph, featuring 10 grandmasters, including three of the top 10, mother and son seized the opportunity to visit Mother House on Friday.

Both were impressed when they saw the rooms of Mother Teresa that bore testimony to “her simple lifestyle”.

“I did not see a lot of Calcutta last time except from the car window. The one obvious difference is that there are a lot more cars than before, which is bound to happen,” Key said.

Key, a successful author and playwright in the US, has been travelling with So on all his tours as “a free manager, a free laundry woman and the one to pick up the phone and order supper”.

So is happy to let her take charge. “I can play with an uncluttered mind because my mother travels with me. I know how fortunate I am, because in the US everyone is on their own by my age,” said the Philippines-born.

The only other place the two could visit amid their commitments was New Market, of which she had heard about last time too.