Saturday, August 21, 2010

A DROP OF LOVE

A DROP OF LOVE
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By M.G. Devasahayam

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. ?But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. Mother Teresa

This was the message printed on the picture-memento given out by the Missionaries of Charity during the beatification of Mother Teresa in 2003. It summed up Mother’s mission. The poet John Keble wrote: “God has sworn to lift on high who sinks himself in true humility.” Mother Teresa’s beatification and the soon-to-follow sainthood are testimony to this abiding faith.

I experienced this ‘drop of love’ as a civil servant in Chandigarh. This dream city of Le Corbusier with its wide vistas, wider avenues, enchanting landscape, lovely gardens, sprawling lawns and spacious bungalows—all signs of wealth and prosperity—is the very antithesis of the places and people with whom Mother Teresa worked. Under the veneer of physical beauty, Chandigarh in the 70s concealed poverty, destitution, abandoned infants and the mentally challenged. A time when government schemes for the amelioration and rehabilitation of the ‘lesser children of God’ had failed to address the core problem. The few NGOs that rendered services did provide some succour, but could not reach out to all the needy people in the city.

It was in this context that some time in late 1975, I along with the Catholic bishop of the Shimla-Chandigarh Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Gilbert Rego, decided to invite Mother Teresa to Chandigarh, with the hope of persuading her to open a home for the needy in the city. We were not sure if Mother—accustomed to the appalling slums of Calcutta—would come to Chandigarh, perceived as wealthy and beautiful. Nevertheless, we decided to send a joint appeal. Our appeal must have moved Mother and she visited Chandigarh in December 1975. With a lot of apprehension, we took Mother around and were relieved when she decided to open a home like Nirmal Hriday in the city.

In May 1976, Mother sent five sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, led by Sister Joya, to start a home for the abandoned and dying destitute and to work among the poorest of the poor in the city and its neighbourhood. And over the last three and a half decades, this drop has become a stream of love.

Within a year, the sisters made such an impact that the Chandigarh administration decided to give them a permanent abode in the city. I had the privilege of participating in the planning and designing of the home and getting all the necessary approvals. Mother made several visits to oversee the progress and I had the honour of receiving her at my office and residence. When things were ready, on October 3, 1977, Mother came and laid the foundation stone for the home.

The home was named Shanti Dan and over the years, it has become the soul of the city. This is evident from the interest people have shown in providing for the upkeep of its hundreds of inmates. Besides, the home has become an instrument for spreading God’s love and compassion in the city. And Mother, in her true devotion and humility, made it possible.

Devasahayam is a retired IAS officer.


CRADLE OF LOVE
Mother Teresa was staunchly against abortion and birth control. She also waged campaigns against divorce, although she did advise Princess Diana to separate from Prince Charles. In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech, she described abortion as “the greatest destroyer of peace”. “Give [the children] to me and I will look after them,” she used to tell those opposing abortion. –COURTESY- THE WEEK

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