Sushila Sara Mai: "A Bavarian original with an Indian-exotic touch"

You can't miss Sushila Maier. The Rottenbucherin is happy, lively, talkative. Really Bavarian, she says. But also really Indian. The story of an adoption that began with the help of Mother Teresa.

Rottenbuch - “Oh, there it is!” Sushila Maier is getting faster. The freezing wind rushes through her hair. She stops in front of a tree and looks. "Hm, no. Then the one. ”She points to a mighty specimen next to it. A lightning bolt once split this tree, and thick trunks stick out in several directions. “Mei, we climbed around in there.” Full of enthusiasm, she talks about the adventures in the forest, behind the church wall.

From swimming in the Ammer, "my blue lagoon". The wind blows through the branches, and with Maier's colorful descriptions you can almost hear the laughter of children from back then. The happy riot of the little Sushila who came back today, on a wonderful winter day. She is 42 years old. And in love with Rottenbuch. Into the woods, the parental home, this almost outrageous idyll. "That's my home. I love the landscape, the people, the language, ”she says. Then she takes a deep breath. "Even so, not everything was nice here."

Sushila Maier today: The actress visited her old home in winter - including a joyful dance in front of her parents' house and a conversation with the local newspaper.

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Sushila Maier today: The actress visited her home Rottenbuch in winter.© Hans-Helmut Herold

Maier is Indian. Your skin color reveals that, as does the dark curly hair. Some found no Bavarian woman to look like that. She was insulted by other children, and a classmate bumped her head against the wall. “They passed on what the adults said,” says Maier. Her parents were also offended and asked why it had to be a “foreigner child”. “The Indian-Negro child,” says Maier. “That was all one for them.” But “they” weren't most of the people in town, she is convinced of that today. "But they were the loudest." Sushila Maier was thrown into an identity crisis. Into a vortex of fear, gratitude and the question: Who am I?

Found by nuns on the streets of Calcutta

As a toddler, she lived with her mother on the streets of Calcutta. Sisters of the Order of Mother Teresa found the two there. The mother was seriously ill and had looked after her daughter as best she could. She was taken to a hospice and Sushila to a children's home. “They wanted to give me a home until my mother felt better,” says Maier. So later told her sisters. But the mother was no longer healthy, she died. “And nothing was known about the rest of my family.” So the little orphan girl, just two years old, stayed with the nuns.

Special blessing: Mother Teresa caresses Sushila on the head.

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A special blessing: Mother Teresa caresses the little Sushila on the head.© private

At the same time, a couple in Rottenbuch wanted a second child. Ludwig and Mechthild Maier wanted a sibling for their six-year-old daughter. They decided to adopt to give a girl from a poor country a future. The couple sent letters to Africa, South America and Asia. Only one answer came: from Calcutta, India. Because the Maiers neither wanted to see photos nor set any other conditions, the nuns decided which girl should move to Bavaria: Sushila. Mother Teresa stroked the girl's head, blessed her. Then another family, who had also adopted a child, took Sushila to Germany. “My parents couldn't afford the flight to India, they picked me up in Frankfurt,” she says with a smile. "Unthinkable today."

In the middle of a Bavarian life

So began a new life for her. A Bavarian one. In a house in the country. With a large garden. Maier walks slowly along the fence, looking at the large meadow, where there were bench and chairs. And to the garden door. "The rose arches are still from my parents." Then she points to the building. "I made the house number in school." But she no longer shows her family's address. The house was sold. Maier looks at it with a smile. This plot is childhood for her. Homeland. Bavaria.

A little sunshine: Sushila with her papa Ludwig Maier and a good friend of the family.

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A little sunshine: Sushila with her papa Ludwig Maier and a good friend of the family.© Private

Her parents, deeply believers, made it a point to go to church on Sundays. They spoke dialect and liked to eat heartily. “I soaked up the Bavarian tradition like mother's milk.” Sometimes she forgot that she looked different from the other children in town. "But the looks of the others reminded me of it." She tried to rub the dark skin away. "I was happy when a white layer came out from under it." But her skin regenerated, turned brown again. "Unfortunately."

Because she is dark-skinned, so was Mary in the congregation's nativity play. Although many people resisted, Maier was allowed to play the mother of Jesus when he was nine. “That's when I split the community,” she recalls. What she no longer knew: That she had to leave the traditional costume association. “I always thought I didn't feel like it anymore.” Her father later confessed that she was kicked out because she didn't fit in.

The pressure to perform put her on

The parents strengthened their self-confidence. “They did well, said: You are here. You belong here. ”And:“ You can defend yourself. ”Verbally, of course. However, they also wanted the daughter to show it to everyone. With performance that they always demanded: at school, in sports, while playing the piano. “My parents wanted to prove that their child was in no way inferior.” The constant expectations and demands had their price. “I had the impression that I am not loved for my sake, but only when I perform well.” That brought her, Maier was a good student, ambitious, in search of perfection. Strictly on oneself. But the pressure put a strain on the relationship with the parents. As a teenager, Maier rebelled, lied, and ran away. She fled to her grandma in Wildsteig, lived there for six months, did her Abi at the grammar school Schongau. And thought about it. “I didn't want us to part like that.” Crises plagued the family. “I realized that I had to be there for my parents.” Her mom died in 2006, and dad in 2018.

In conversation with the local newspaper: In an interview, Sushila Maier also reports on the difficulties she had in her childhood.

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In conversation with the local newspaper: In an interview, Sushila Maier also reports on the difficulties she had in her childhood.© Hans-Helmut Herold

The parental home was already sold. Maier had built a life of his own. In Frankfurt am Main she completed a traineeship in an advertising agency, followed by a degree at the Bavarian Academy for Advertising. And was trained as a travel agent. Maier was looking - and actually knew what she wanted: to become an actress. But the training was expensive. “And at 24 I was very old for drama school.” Her boyfriend at the time motivated her. In 2002 she started pursuing her dream at the ISSA in Munich.

Sushila Maier found herself in acting class

Suddenly Maier was faced with questions like “Who am I?”, “What do I want?” And “What makes me special?” She found that “fascinating, tingling”. But the urge not to allow herself to make mistakes slowed her down. One improvisation teacher broke the collar. He compressed them, demanded that Maier allow emotions and feelings. Makes mistakes. He flipped a switch she hadn't found in many years. “Suddenly I no longer placed any value on being perfect.” But on being real. Being human - and that also lives from mistakes.

As Sushila Sara Mai, she has been working full-time as an actress since 2005. In the theater, in dinner thrillers, in films and series. She plays Indian, German, Bavarian women. “I have a niche here.” As a language coach, she helped colleagues learn Bavarian. She dances, sings. A thoroughbred artist. In May, the movie comedy “Dreams are like wild tigers” comes out, with Maier in a leading role. The career is on. "I've never had so many casting suggestions as now."

Sister Margret Mary in 1981 with little Sushila. When the girl grew up, the two met again in India.

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Sister Margret Mary in 1981 with Sushila, who was about three years old. When the girl grew up, the two met again in India.© private

The 42-year-old has not only found herself as an actress, but also as a person. Since she was in India in 2007, many of the fears of the past have disappeared. She kept thinking that her mother didn't want her - the story was different. This is what her sister Margret Mary told her, who once brought little Sushila to Germany. Getting to know each other troubled Maier. “I should call her grandmother,” she recalls. Maier understood: she was never the unloved child - she was wanted. In India. And in Germany.

She now passes this feeling on to her children. She lives in the Dachau district with her partner Till Haunschild and the eleven-year-old twins Adrian and Marius. Every now and then there is a visit to Rottenbuch. Their homeland, where they still know many. As she walks through the town, they greet the people, shout “Servus. Sushila ”. Some stop to chat. “I am welcomed with open arms,” she says. “I no longer have to prove myself.” Maier no longer feels a burden - he feels gratitude. For her three mothers: the biological one, Mother Teresa and Mama Mechthild. They all wanted the best for them. And we made sure that she is who she wants to be today: "A Bavarian original with an Indian touch."

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