Jewels of India – Mother Teresa and her sisters

When I arrived in Calcutta it was early June and the monsoon season hadn’t started yet.  That meant the air was thick and hazy blue with humidity on diesel.

 

I looked out the cab window, amazed at the India before me.  Never had I seen so many people – hoards of humanity.  Animals too seemed everywhere – boney cows, scruffy chickens, flea-bitten street dogs, dirty naked children.

 

Rickety cars, scooters, bicycles, push-carts, and other wheeled contraptions weasled through the streets.  In my weakly air conditioned cab, I could take it all in.

I’d be staying here for a month, after thumbing through a book called ‘Volunteer Vacations’ and deciding to work with Mother Teresa’s organization – the Sisters of Charity.  I was attracted by the description in the book – simply ‘show up and begin work’ with address of the Mother House.

 

Many of the other entries for ‘volunteer vacations’ had some sort of application, screening process or skills needed.  I liked Mother Teresa’s approach – simple, direct and no talents required.  She would take anybody who had a desire to help.  Her winning of the Nobel Prize led me to believe this would be an authentic experience.  I didn’t really expect this to be a vacation at all.