Kolkata--Mother Teresa

 Our last day on the Ganges, we awoke to our original starting place in Kolkata. It was a bit of an early start for our excursion but it was going to be a long one and our last. I might have opted out but I really wanted to see the home of Mother Teresa.

The rest of the stops on the tour didn’t interest me much. I was tired of historical buildings that flew by the window of the bus and were hard to pick out among all the other buildings. I think I was just tired and all the horn honking and crowds and crazy city traffic as well as the never ending heat was getting to me.

Mother Teresa’s home was our first stop. It was a room in a complex that houses the Missionary of Charity started by her in 1952. One of the best things about this stop was getting a small booklet that told of her life. I learned so much more about her.

When she received the call to begin her work in India, she responded with obedience. The journey was not easy and much prayer was needed for places to serve from and others to serve with. As the ministry grew, so did the notoriety. She was asked to travel the world speaking about the ministry, something she didn’t want to do but found it necessary in order to raise continued support for all the areas the ministry that had developed including an orphanage which is still in operation. I did not realize that her work eventually extended to 120 different countries.

Our first place to visit when we entered the complex was her room. There were stairs to climb and a small viewing area that looked into a very small room with a single simple bed, a desk and a chair and a clock. Here is where she worked on correspondence and other necessary paperwork and eventually passed away in that bed it was said looking at the picture of Jesus.

From there we went to a large museum room that held personal effects, pictures and news articles and artwork. One painting struck me. It was a “last supper” painting but instead of all the apostles, it had all the peacemakers of the world sitting around Jesus including Mother Teresa and Ghandi.

The last place we looked into was the room that held her tomb. Strange, but here we were allowed to take pictures. I didn’t raise my phone to snap a photo. Instead, I stood there and fought back tears. Here was a woman who had exemplified the very thing that Jesus wanted from all of us, to love one another no matter the station in life. I thought of all the people we had seen in the last week and a half. The poverty. The living conditions. Those who seemed unlovable. It was those people she served and ministered to and it was in bygone years when I imagine conditions were even worse than what we’d seen. I would borrow Bob’s picture later. The moment was too intense.

On our way again, we moved on past more historical buildings, more people living under bridges, more laundry hanging everywhere and lots more horns honking. The next stop was the flower market. From where the bus parked, it was a bit of a walk and through a very crowded street. There were a few flower stalls there along the way and tons of refuse from the trimming of the flowers to make the decorations we saw. A front loader was picking up some of it but the rotting greens really smelled.

We got to a bridge that overlooked the market below. Sachi had pointed out that there might be slippery places where the refuse was and then pointed to all the steps that led down into the market. I estimated about 25-30 steps down which meant just as many coming back up and figured that once down there, there would be no fresh air since it was kind of like going into a pit. I backed out and took the option that was afforded us to go back to the bus. I felt bad that I was the only one but someone led me back to the bus and the driver turned on the AC for me as I waited for everyone else to return.

Bob returned and sat down and said it was hot, crowded and like everything he would have imagined India to be. ‘Nuf said. 

We moved on to see something we had questions about. What were the mud sculptures we’d seen at several places?