Where Mother Teresa Lived And Died

A man sits with his eyes closed on a bench beside her grave. Another kneels at the foot of the grave in prayer.
A bunch of paper slips and pens are kept on the window to write down prayer petitions.

IMAGE: A photograph of Mother Teresa hangs on one of the walls of the Mother House. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff

For nearly 50 years, Mother Teresa did not have a fan in her tiny room. In sultry Kolkata, two small windows were the only source of breeze in her spartan first floor room.

Located above the kitchen, it was the hottest part of the house -- and it was only in the two years before her passing that a fan was installed inside the room.

The narrow room is open to visitors. Up a short flight of stairs, it is almost bare.

An iron cot with a cotton mattress is placed against a wall beside two writing tables and a bench.

Framed pictures with Pope John Paul II, who was head of the Catholic church during the final 19 years of her life, are placed in the room. She had met the pontiff when he visited Calcutta in 1986 and in Rome.

Then there's a map of India.

Another of the world.

A hand-written list hangs from a wall.

A cupboard with neatly stacked files is near the bedpost.

A crown of thorns above a picture of Christ is fixed on the wall near the bed.

A simple plaque informs that Mother Teresa kept looking at the crown of thorns and the picture of Christ as she struggled to breathe in her final hours on September 5, 1997.

No pictures or videos are allowed inside the room.

IMAGE: The three-storied building called 'Mother House'. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff

There is quietness in the three-storied building on AJC Road which is called 'Mother House' and is the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa in 1950.

She had borrowed Rs 125,000 to buy the house.

Mother Teresa arrived in India from Skopje, the present capital of North Macedonia as a Catholic nun in 1929 and became an Indian citizen after Independence in 1948.

She was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1980, the first naturalised Indian to receive the honour. The other two foreign recipients are Nelson Mandela and Khan Abdul Gafar Khan 'Frontier Gandhi.'

The Nobel Peace Prize was presented to her in 1979 for her service to the poor.

IMAGE: A short flight of stairs leading to Mother Teresa's room. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff

On her passing [which was on the same day as Princess Diana's funeral], Mother Teresa was given a State funeral and laid to rest in the house where she had lived.

The tomb is inside a hall in Mother House.

A man sits with his eyes closed on a bench beside her grave. Another kneels at the foot of the grave in prayer.

A bunch of paper slips and pens are kept on the window to write down prayer petitions.

Nuns in signature blue and white saris quietly go about their chores. Two of them sort out old clothes in the courtyard. A few other nuns transport a large wooden frame down a flight of stairs on an upper floor.

IMAGE: Mother Teresa's tomb at Mother House. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff

The cotton sari with three blue borders was trademarked by the Missionaries of Charity after her death to prevent misuse for commercial gains.

The saris are woven by inmates of a home for leprosy patients started by Mother Teresa and supplied to all the nuns working for Missionaries of Charity.

A small museum in the next room is dedicated to her life. Her sari, sweater, sandals, utensils, personal items, pictures and letters are placed in a glass case.