A Tribute to the Journey from being Agnes to being Saint Mother Teresa

Catholic nun and missionary Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, the current capital of the Republic of Macedonia. The following day, she was baptized as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. In 1919, when Agnes was only 8 years old, her father suddenly fell ill and died. While the cause of his death remains unknown, many have speculated that political enemies poisoned him. In the aftermath of her father's death, Agnes became extraordinarily close to her mother, a pious and compassionate woman who instilled in her daughter a deep commitment to charity.

Although by no means wealthy, Drana Bojaxhiu extended an open invitation to the city's destitute to dine with her family. "My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing it with others," she counseled her daughter. When Agnes asked who the people eating with them were, her mother uniformly responded, "Some of them are our relations, but all of them are our people."

In 1928, an 18-year-old Agnes Bojaxhiu decided to become a nun and set off for Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin. It was there that she took the name Sister Mary Teresa

A year later, Sister Mary Teresa traveled on to Darjeeling, India, for the novitiate period; in May 1931, she made her First Profession of Vows. Afterward she was sent to Calcutta, where she was assigned to teach at Saint Mary's High School for Girls, a school run by the Loreto Sisters and dedicated to teaching girls from the city's poorest Bengali families. Sister Teresa learned to speak both Bengali and Hindi fluently as she taught geography and history and dedicated herself to alleviating the girls' poverty through education.

On May 24, 1937, she took her Final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. As was the custom for Loreto nuns, she took on the title of "Mother" upon making her final vows and thus became known as Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa continued to teach at Saint Mary's, and in 1944 she became the school's principal.

Mother Teresa's 'Call Within a Call'

However, on September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa experienced a second calling, the "call within a call" that would forever transform her life. She was riding in a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat when she said Christ spoke to her and told her to abandon teaching to work in the slums of Calcutta aiding the city's poorest and sickest people. 

But since Mother Teresa had taken a vow of obedience, she could not leave her convent without official permission. After nearly a year and a half of lobbying, in January 1948 she finally received approval to pursue this new calling. That August, donning the blue-and-white sari that she would wear in public for the rest of her life, she left the Loreto convent and wandered out into the city. After six months of basic medical training, she voyaged for the first time into Calcutta's slums with no more specific a goal than to aid "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for."

International Charity and Recognition

In February 1965, Pope Paul VI bestowed the Decree of Praise upon the Missionaries of Charity, which prompted Mother Teresa to begin expanding internationally. The Decree of Praise was just the beginning, as Mother Teresa received various honors for her tireless and effective charity. She was awarded the Jewel of India, the highest honor bestowed on Indian civilians, as well as the now-defunct Soviet Union's Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work "in bringing help to suffering humanity."

Death and Sainthood

After several years of deteriorating health, in which she suffered from heart, lung and kidney problems, Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87.

However, despite the enormous scale of her charitable activities and the millions of lives she touched, to her dying day she held only the most humble conception of her own achievements. Summing up her life in characteristically self-effacing fashion, Mother Teresa said, "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus."

In 2002, the Vatican recognized a miracle involving an Indian woman named Monica Besra, who said she was cured of an abdominal tumor through Mother Teresa's intercession on the one year anniversary of her death in 1998. She was beatified as "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" on October 19, 2003 in a ceremony led by Pope John Paul II. 

On December 17, 2015, Pope Francis issued a decree that recognized a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, clearing the way for her to be canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. The second miracle involved the healing of Marcilio Andrino, a Brazilian man who was diagnosed with a viral brain infection and lapsed into a coma. His wife, family and friends prayed to Mother Teresa, and when the man was brought to the operating room for emergency surgery, he woke up without pain and was cured of his symptoms, according to a statement from the Missionaries of Charity Father. 

Mother Teresa was canonized as a saint on September 4, 2016, a day before the 19th anniversary of her death. Pope Francis led the canonization Mass, which was held in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. 

 “After due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint, and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church,” Pope Francis said in Latin. 

Saint Mother Teresa always lived the saying “your actions should speak louder than your words”. She never waited for any recognition nor did she deviate from the path she was moving on. The purpose, the longing within to serve the community, the spur to do something for the neglected people and the humanitarian will were few things she lived for.

I was pondering that the recognition she got recently, is it not late now? But then I found my answer instantly that she never waited for that nor did she ever served to have that. And being a true follower, why should I also worry for something which is just an acquisitive thing. Suspensions and deferment should not affect your efforts towards your goals. That is what I have learnt from her life and want my readers to accept the same while trailing their goals.

Pampering can be dangerous

In some of the recent conversations with few kids of age 7-8 years, I have realized that the role which upbringing plays in ones’ attitude towards life, cannot be substituted by anything else in the world.

Let me share the incidences where I have felt that there is some problem with the attitude of those kids and the faults were not of their own but of their guardians who are upbringing them.

One of the guy, with a very sound background a well-educated set of siblings, friends and parents, use to tell to his friends to do friendship with a particular boy of his age because he was rich and his dad has a hotel where they can go anytime and eat anything. What does this show? To me it is a upbringing wherein parents are inculcating just the importance of money and status around any kid. They are guiding the kid to take the maximum opportunities possible by being surrounded with the rich friends. Is it not showing the hungry, opportunist, and starving attitude of parents? Will it not affect the future growth of the child?

On the other hand, I heard a small kid saying to the other that you cannot take admission in my school as it is the costliest among all the neighbourhood schools and you can not afford it. Where from is he hearing this? Is it not the conversation of parents which is bringing the wrong impression to child’s mindset? Are the parents want to teach the kid the power of money which they have? Or is it the beginning of a wrong attitude development in terms of considering everyone around you as the inferior. I think such parents should stop boasting about the money or income they earn, at least not in front of the kids and instead should teach their children about the true value and meaning of status, politeness and good relations.

Another situation which I faced was of a kid who was visiting his relatives. When jokingly, the owner of the room (the youngest in the house) played a prank and told him that it’s his room and he should be the one dictating the rules, then very cunningly the child said, that this room belongs to the owner of the house, which you are not and thus not to you. There I have realized that how does this kid knows about all the in and outs of the ownership? And also, is it not the case always that any logical parent teach his/her kid the value of sharing and obeying to elders. In this very case, I think parents are putting in the wrong impression in child’s mind that only the owner of any material thing is the supreme authority and rest others are just the dummies and should not be bothered about.

On the contrary, when I happen to meet the parents of the same kids, they are always safe guarding their mistakes, always being extra protective for them, always busy teaching the world that it (the world) should behave well with their children. And then I always pray to God that he should bless me with all the courage to either avoid these types of kids and their wrong parents or give me courage to detach my own parts from any such kid and parents. Whenever I will be having my own kids, I will try to save them from the wrong company as well as try to teach them the best for them by giving them the training to lean from their own mistakes, instead of saving them from the scolding of right people.

I wish to reach every such parent, through this write up, who are busy protecting their kids, even when they know that they are wrong. May I request you all, that this will make your as well as your child’s future really dark and at that time, you will not find any such torch which can bring light to their life back? It’s a humble request to all the loving parents of this world, to take care of the things at present instead of harvesting the damaged crop (your children) in future.

A door to Love Stories

Its been quite some time that I have been writing out of interest. With just a little innovation in my present writings, here I am bringing in some fun by adding the love stories to it. Out of my interest, and thinking it to be a mode of bringing in some colours and charm to every reader's life, I have started with another initiative and that is of writing love stories.  These are random ones and I am reproducing them as they are coming to my mind. I am hopeful that I will continue to write something interesting until you all are tired of reading or I am tired of writing. And at the same time I wish it to not happen.

Therefore to all those who have interest in reading short love stories, I have a gift to give this festive season. Keep reading and enjoying life.

The link to the page is tanukathuria.blogspot.com

When the darkness has no ray of hope

Off lately I have learned that all the problems we face are not natural in nature rather some are very much under control and can be cured with just little bit of efforts and concentration on them. But the question is, who will have the powers to solve these problems and who have the capabilities to deal with them.

Many of the problems are due to the fact that the things around you, your surroundings, the people around you and the environment around you are not changing with time and making rest of the things stink. Probably that is the time when all your health problems becomes an outcome of your mental illness and the worst part is that you cannot even make the people understand about the same. They are the one who are in a better position to deal with it and solve them permanently but sometimes you feel when you have some issues, it is not always the case with rest of the people around you and that is the time when you feel absolutely shattered and depressed.

Your deteriorating health, your tears, your depression, your anxiety and your sorrowful face is also doesn’t bother the people around you, who can actually, by taking a stand, can solve the problems or may be can reduce their impact. These are the things which sometimes, rather very often, puts you into the position of questioning your own self about your existence. And this comes as a lesson that until you concentrate on your own problems and things no one will take the initiative and solve them for you. No one will ever do it for you until they themselves are affected by them.

I would like to leave this write up as an open ended one and may be this time the readers can give an insight to it, that how to deal with the manmade problems and how to make people, around you, understand as to what you are going through and what implication will this have on you in future.

Life Lessons learnt during my Ph.D days

Doing a PhD will make you an expert in your research topic, but, beyond that, it will also teach you a number of valuable lessons which are applicable to other jobs and to your personal life. Here are some of the most useful lessons that I've learnt from undertaking my own independent research project.

1.    Time management

One of the first skills that i have picked up in my PhD is the ability to manage my own time. Unless you have an unusually overbearing supervisor, you will have to be responsible for organizing your own working days and making sure that your work gets done on time. This is excellent training for other roles later in your career in which you will have to allocate time for various tasks to meet deadlines.

2.    Importance of prioritization

Related to time management, i have also learnt to assess the priorities of various tasks. What needs to be done right now, and what can wait? Is it better to get small tasks out of the way quickly, or should you tackle big, demanding projects first? There are different styles which work for different people, and being responsible for your own research project will teach you which prioritization techniques work for you.

3. How to work with others

Although doing a PhD is largely an independent undertaking, you will also need to work with others. Whether working as part of a research group or organizing an event with your fellow PhD students, you will learn to listen to others, to make your own suggestions to a group, and to find compromises. These are all invaluable skills for later in life.

4.   How to give an oral presentation

At some point in everyone's PhD you will be required to give an oral presentation, such as at a conference, workshop, or as part of your thesis defense. You will get in practice at putting together interesting slides, at speaking clearly to a group, and at conveying information in a comprehensible way.

5.    Self-motivation

One of the biggest challenges to overcome in your PhD is having to motivate yourself. It's unlikely that anyone else will push you to get your work done, so you have to find ways in which you can encourage yourself, even when you're tired or bored. Being able to push through negative emotions to meet your goals is one of the most broadly useful life skills you can acquire.

6.   Effective writing and editing

Whether you write up your thesis as one large document or as several shorter journal articles, you will learn a lot about making sure that your writing is not only accurate, but also concise and engaging. People who have done postgraduate study will have much more writing experience than most of the public, and this is advantageous for many career paths.

7.    Independent creative thought

An underrated skill that you will pick up from running your own research project is the ability to think about problems in creative ways and to come up with novel solutions and ideas. Because you will be working on a new and previously uninvestigated topic, you will not always be able to rely on the concepts of others, and will have to find your own approach to issues. The confidence that this gives you will help you when problem solving in future situations, both personal and professional.

8.   Learning how to learn

Possibly the most useful thing that you'll discover when doing a PhD is what learning methods are effective for you and how to make use of them. You may need to teach yourself skills such as data analysis, programming, or other technical skills. Beyond acquiring the skills themselves, you will also find out about how you learn, and what teaching methods work best for you. Do you like to read a lot of written information? To see someone knowledgeable working in practice? To test and experiment with new tools by yourself? Being able to identify the methods that work for you will mean that you are capable of teaching yourself any skills that you may require in the future, which is helpful whenever you come across a new or unfamiliar situation.

These lessons have helped me through my PhD and beyond! And I am sure these will help you too.......

Rules to a game of LOVE & IMPORTANCE

We all grow up with some healthy stories about love and some unhealthy ones too.

Some beautiful ones are: Loving people means believing their potential, loving means treating people with kindness and gentleness, loving the people in your life means celebrating their success and cheering them on.

Some stories about love that I came to see weren’t so helpful are those ideas which usually bred problems in one’s relationships. Some of them are: Loving someone means always being available to them, another myth about love is, if you love someone, you do what they are asking you to do, out of love, even if it feels difficult.

I’ve developed my own guidelines for loving the people in my life, guidelines that express how I want to relate to people around me. I am sure some of them are yours too…..

1.    Tell them about their brilliance: They likely can’t see it and they don’t know its immensity, but you can see it, and you can illuminate it for them.

2.    Be authentic, and give others the gift of the real you and a real relationship: Ask your real questions. Share your real beliefs. Go for your real dreams. Tell your truth.

3.    Listen, Listen and Listen: Don’t listen to determine if you agree or disagree. Listen to get to know what is true for the person in front of you. Remember that if, in any conversation, nothing piqued your curiosity and nothing surprised you, you weren’t really listening.

4.   Don’t waste your time and energy thinking about how they need to be different: Really. Chuck the whole thing. Their habits are their habits. Their personalities are their personalities. Let them be, and work on what you want to change about you – not what you think would be good to change about them.

5.    Give of yourself, but never sacrifice or compromise yourself: Stop if resentment is building and retool. Don’t do the martyr thing. It helps no one and nothing.

6.   See their value: Remember that everyone you encounter was created by the divine intelligence and has an important role to play in the universe. Treat them as such.

7.    Accept this as your mantra and try to live as if it were true: EVERYTHING THAT I EXPERIENCE FROM ANOTHER HUMAN BEING IS EITHER LOVE OR A CALL FOR LOVE.

At the same time I have learnt that when you give more importance to someone in life, you tend to lose your importance in their life……. I read a quote which cleared up a lot of confusion and hopefully it will help you too. “IF IT IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO YOU, YOU WILL FIND A WAY. IF NOT, YOU WILL FIND AN EXCUSE”.

Sometimes, you may not be successful in receiving back the kind and amount of importance you have given to someone. But worry not! Just believe in that it is OK, there will be times when you are in the same position as well. Don’t get hung up over it and don’t let it get you down or deter you from giving importance to other people in the future. The right people will always reciprocate, I can vouch for that. Hence I believe that sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention is to stop giving them yours.

At the end, I would just like to remind and assure that all the relationships are beautiful and made in heaven. All that we have to do is to choose accurately the relationship God has made for us and give our one hundred percent in that relation to reap us love, care, respect and support throughout our life.

The mantras are not the perfect ones but I am somewhat attached to them and believe in them.

Small tweaks to happiness

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
Abraham Lincoln

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust

Living a happier life often seems to be about living your big dreams and putting in a lot of work over a long time.

I agree that it is one part. But another part of happiness is here in small ways today. Here are some small tweaks that can find the ways to feel happier everyday, in every way……

1.   Be kind in small ways. Let someone in into your lane while driving your car. Hold up the door or hold the elevator for a stranger. Not just because that you tend to get back what you give in some form. But for yourself too, these little things add up and make you feel better about yourself.

2.  Be appreciative of other people. Replace the habit of spotting the things that annoy you about people with one where you make small or big positive observations about them. And be sure to tell them that.

3.  Cut back on the time you spend with most negative person in your life. And spend more time with the most positive person(s).

4.  Be 5 or 10 minutes early. This will make travel time a time of relaxation and renewal rather than a time of stress and negativity added to your day. Plus, you’ll be on time.

5.  Do what is not “you”. Try a new dish for lunch. Read a book or watch a movie that is not in your usual genre. Learn a little about a topic that is not something you are usually into. This is a great and fun way to find new perspectives in life, to grow and to expand your comfort zone just a little on a daily or weekly basis. Cultivating this habit also makes it easier to get out of your comfort zone when larger and “scarier” opportunities present themselves.

6.  Let go of one thing from your past. Clinging on to an old conflict, argument or that you were wronged by someone can consume a lot of time, energy and space in your life. And as Jan Glidewell once said: “You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”
So to stop hurting yourself you have to accept that what is in your mind is in the past now. By accepting that it is in the past that you need to let go to live your life fully now.

7.  Take the smarter and higher road. Don’t be someone the people can walk all over, set boundaries and say no when needed. But recognize that unnecessary conflicts just waste your time and energy. And that some people are so addicted to the drama and conflicts that you will never win or reach an understanding between the two of you. There are more fun and good things to spend time on in your life. So try to reach an understanding. But if it doesn’t work then remove yourself from getting drawn into their conflicts and make the day better for both you and possibly them.

8.  Be kind to yourself. The next time you make a mistake or fail don’t treat yourself like a jerk of a boss would. Instead, be kind, see what you can learn from what happened, gently nudge yourself in the right direction again and keep going.

9.  Appreciate yourself. It’s OK and something that a lot of people don’t do enough. Spend 5 minutes every day with thinking about or writing it down the things you can appreciate about yourself and how far you have come. Do this enough times – try 30 days – to change how you view yourself on a more permanent level.