Chapter 5
“RIGOROUS POVERTY IS OUR
SAFEGUARD”
Lower Circular Road is a humming center of activity in Calcutta. The
street is filled with pedestrians and traffic. The everyday drone of people,
car horns, rickshaw bells, and trams is broken occasionally by the passing
of Hindu processions and political parades. With all the commotion, it is
easy to overlook the residence located at 54A Lower Circular Road; the
noise of the everyday world drowns out the daily prayers of the home’s res-
idents.
To get to 54A Lower Circular Road, one takes a narrow lane that leads
to a three-storied, gray-washed building. On closer inspection, however,
one sees that there are really two houses that surround a small courtyard.
Leaving the lane takes one to the front brown-painted door; here is a
small chain attached to the frame, which, when pulled, rings a bell on the
inside. The bell is an acknowledgement of the power outages that often
plague Calcutta. Once inside the home, the visitor is in a very special
place: the center of activity for the Missionaries of Charity and their now-
deceased founder, Mother Teresa.POOR BY CHOICE
With their move into Motherhouse in early 1953, the Missionaries of
Charity had their own base of operations. Not only did the new residence
offer more room for the growing number of newcomers to the order; it also
had its own chapel and a dining hall. Mother Teresa also had her own
quarters. Slowly, new recruits appeared asking to be taken into the con-
gregation as a Missionary of Charity.