A year after her death, Mother Teresa is still IN

COLUMN: Tunnel of Time

By Shevlin Sebastian

It is 9 a.m. Sept. 4, the day before the first anniversary of Mother Teresa's death. A stream of visitors flows into the Missionaries of Charity (MC) house in Calcutta, site of the nun's grave.

Among the many visitors is a Muslim family identifiable by their dress. “I have come with my whole family to pay my respects,” says Mohammed Sirajuddin, who appears to be in his 50s, as he waits for Mother's successor, Sister Nirmala Joshi. Three young girls and a woman wait with him, holding a bouquet of flowers.

As the family moves to the grave, a nun clad in the famous blue-bordered white sari emerges from the door on the opposite side. “Isn't it nice that a Muslim along with his family has come to pay respects to Mother?” a journalist asks the nun.

“Oh yes,” she says. “This man has paid for the entire marble grave of Mother.”

Meanwhile, the nuns wash the floors and clean walls and ceilings with long brooms, preparing to receive people expected at anniversary Masses scheduled throughout the next day.

Near the entrance, the nun who keeps the door reads the Bible. Another nun says the rosary. Inside the chapel, groups of people pray before Mother's grave.

“How do you feel one year after Mother's death?” someone asks a nun in the corner of the chapel that houses the grave.

“We miss her very much,” she replies as she walks slowly out of the chapel. “I have so much love in my heart for her. I wish she were here.”

The questioner takes out a tape recorder, surprising the nun. “You are a press man?” she asks. “Oh, don't speak to me. You speak to Sister Nirmala.” Before the reporter can reply, she smiles and leaves.

The smell of incense and the sound of psalms call us to Mass in the tiny chapel on the ground floor.

While walking out, the journalist pauses outside the main door. The nameplate on it says: “Mother Teresa: IN.” An MC associate observes that the nuns behave as if Mother is on a trip and will return soon to ask for a report on the progress of the work.

(Published in Asia Focus, Hongkong, on September 25, 1998)