This 5th of September marked the 13th death anniversary of Mother Teresa and a few weeks before , her birth centenary on August 26 , saw the world entire world paying homage to her . Dwelling a little deeper into her story , i found ,to my surprise, that was that for someone who has to her name the Nobel Peace Prize (1979) and india's top honour for civilians , the Bharat Ratna (1980) ,among others recognitions ,and a life time of service to the downtrodden and destitute , good old Mother Teresa has quite a few critics .
I learnt that over the years she has attracted a lot of criticism from all over , even from sources within the charities .
My reaction " On what grounds would anyone criticise her? She's gone , she did good things .. leave her alone ,cynics!." I read on ..
Among other things ,the fact that she professed that pain and suffering would bring people closer to Jesus , was not recieved well by many in the light of the work she did , that is , to provide care to the ailing . One Mr.Aroup Chatterjee , who worked in the Missionaries of Charity briefly , wrote a book , Mother Teresa -The Final Verdict , wanting to 'unveil' the the real person behind the image of Mother Teresa . He along with a number of other indians didn't like the picture she painted of Calcutta , as a dark , poverty stricken city , a Calcutta which wasn't the one they knew . Over the years , there have been allegations that a substantial portion of the heavy donations received by the charities were not allowed by Mother Teresa to be utilised to alleviate the crisis in India , but were put to use for other purposes and even ended up in the Vatican bank . So while some say that she was a friend of the poor and helpless , others say she was best friends with the rich and powerful. http://mostlywater.org/mother_teresa_faithless_fraud_and_hypocrite
In 1994, a british physician visited the calcutta charity facilities and was startled by the way medical care was being administered there .An english journalist called Christopher Hitchens ,made a documentary called 'Hell's Angel' , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQ0i3nCx60 , which reveals quite a different picture than the one i had in my mind .....
But what did i have in my mind ? This picture actually .This image that embodies who she is for me everytime i come across the words 'Mother Teresa'. It's like that for most of us isn't it ? However , the things i now know , true or not , i don't like . And what i hate even more is the fact that some of it is hard to turn a blind eye to and just push aside.
But i think i will . Simply because it doesnt matter anymore, i guess. Eventhough she might be 'guilty' of some of these 'charges' , the work she started is successfully helping multitudes around the world today involving sick and ignored people, prostitutes , terminally ill cases, refugees , to running soup kitchens for feeding the hungry and giving shelter to abandoned children .
Year 2003 saw the Beatification of Mother Teresa , which is the second step in canonization, the process towards Sainthood . She then became the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
For her to become Saint Teresa , there needs to be another 'acceptable' miracle in her name which ,by the way , means that someone should have been cured 'by her' who wasn't gettin any medical care otherwise. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article590170.ece
Whatever said and done , i guess it's safe for me to assume that for most us , her face still shines a glint of hope .Maybe most people don't know that there's two sides to this beautiful story . But for the simple reason that she gave people hope , i respect this saintly figure .
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