There have been umpteen books in many languages on this woman of small stature, who was a beacon of hope in the lives of lepers and destitutes who were shunned by the society. Mother Teresa has been a muse for writers all over the world for years. So what sets the book The Mother, a Malayalam novel written by M K Chandrasekharan, apart is the author’s brief encounter with Mother Teresa in 1994, for it inspired him to research for years, explore the slums where she struggled to serve the poor, and his experiences, which left him overwhelmed, led him to put pen to paper. The result is the novel The Mother.
Says the author who had encapsulated the epochal life of Agnes Bojaxhio alias Sister Teresa in 18 chapters, “Meeting Mother Teresa 19 years back in Kochi was instrumental in writing this book. Mother was in the city to attend a function and I could see her only from a distance. But the next day, when her car parked near the spot where I was standing, I got a chance to meet her up close and touched her hand in veneration. The benevolence in her smile inspired me to write a book on her when Mother passed away three years later.”
Written in lucid language, the book is contemplative in many instances, unveiling the ruminations of the twelve-year old girl who sets off from home in Albania to change the world and improve the condition of the poor.
Chandrasekharan says, “I did research on the books and newspaper articles written about Mother. My meetings with the sisters of ‘Missionaries of Charity’, Mother’s congregation in Kolkata, helped me to get a clear picture about her persona. A Malayalam book, ‘Mother Teresa,’ written by Sebastian Paul, inspired me to think about writing a book in our language, says the author.
The author has adopted a first-person narrative throughout the novel and he says, “Mother’s life was not facile. She received both bouquets and brickbats in her eventful life. There was even a period in which she had apprehensions regarding her faith in God, so I thought that looking at things from the protagonist’s perspective would make it more precise.”
Spanning over 100 pages, the book narrates in detail the major incidents in the life of Mother Teresa, from her birth in Skopje in 1910, to her childhood filled with fascinating stories of the missionaries to her resolution to be a nun, and her later life. “Her life, with its ebbs and flows, was eventful enough for several books,” says the author.
Mother Teresa also invited criticism in her lifetime by the Western media for several reasons. She was scorned for revealing only the murky side of Kolkata.
When quizzed regarding the memories of the people of the city on the author, he says, “Mother is still loved by the people of Kolkata, irrespective of their religious beliefs.” He narrated a touching incident in which a Muslim man who showed him the way to the convent expressed his gratitude towards Mother by bending down and offering his prayers in front of the convent.
The book, The Mother is published by Current Books.