“I FREQUENTLY dream that I have died and gone to heaven. At the gates of heaven St Peter says, entry for you mother, there are no slums here”, quipped Mother Teresa with a laugh as jolly and twinkling as a three year-old’s. She was recounting her dreamt to the Archhishop of Bombay, Cardinal Simon Pimento of the Holy Name Church on Thursday morning at his residence where she paid him a visit.
Mother Teresa was tailed by this reporter from Missionaries of Chanty. Vile Parle in North east Bombay where she was residing to the Governor’s bunglow at Raj Bhavan to the Cardinal’s residence at Colaba in South Bombay where patience and perseverance bore a fruit and an encounter or rather an exclusive tete-a-tete ensued.
An 85 year old Mother seated on a couch her wrinkled body belying her energy and zest for creating more homes and allowing more destitutes a chance to lead a decent life, told the Free Press Journal that she attributed her unending verve and vitality to Jesus. Pointing to her rosary beads she smiled, “This is what keeps me going”.
I think that everybody is trying to do their best, said Mother Teresa when asked what she thought about the slum situation in Bombay particular and India, in general.
Her one worded advise to people who want to help the poor and the ailing was to “pray”.
“The fruit of prayer is faith and the fruit of faith is love, and the fruit of love is service, and fruit of service is peace”, said the Mother. This is formula that has every thing in it she added.
When asked if there will there be another Mother Teresa, she quipped with with a smile, that’s His business.”
This Nobel peace prize winner, also proved that she s a diplomat when she said that she kept out of all the bureaucratic rigmarole involved in the setting up of a Home.
Having over 350 Mother Teresa Homes all over the World doesn’t curb her enthusiasim for opening up more, specially in places yet untouched.
Thus, she has plans on second visit o China soon where she wants to set up one of her Missionary of Charities.
Her two day visit to Bombay which found her visiting the Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi at Mantralaya on Wednesday where she gave him her visiting card. The story behind her card has it that once when one of her well wishers wanted her card. She gave tam a slip of paper with a small message on it. The man used that as a format and returned u few days later with a stack of blue visiting cards for her.
She discussed with the Chief Minister her plans for setting up a Hospice for AIDS patients at Versova near Cooper Hospital.
The CM has sanctioned her a one acre land near the creek and assured her further that he would speak to the Revenue Minister, Sudhir Joshi to enable her to take additional land. He further told her that he would take the necessary action to protect one of her Homes, Asha Daan at Byculla which was facing problems from certain builders there.
Earlier the Sharad Pawar government had sanctioned her a private land at Kalina. But Mother refused to accept when she leant that it was private Mother Teresa wants her proposed hospice to cater initially to women convicts who are rotting in jails and gradually start accepting men too.
The Government leases land to Mother Teresa for one rupee u year and the Mother says with g twinkle in her eyes that she asks her Sisters in the Sennnary to remind her to pay it Notwithstanding her two angiographies, Mother Teresa continues with her battle to save the world’s destitutes from a callous life.
The author of this piece, Swati Deshpande, is a senior editor at The Times of India, covering legal affairs. She formerly worked at the Indian Express and prior to that at The Free Press Journal where her work was phenomenally diverse and prolific.
