Nobel Lecture DQ
Nobel Lecture
Mother Teresa [1910-1997]
DQ – 5 Marks
1. *Narrate in your words the experience of Mother Teresa in an old age home. [5] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2014]
👉In her ‘Nobel Lecture’ Mother Teresa has shared an experience of visiting an old age home where old parents were just put and might be forgotten by their sons and daughters. She went there and was saddened and surprised to see that though the old parents had everything in that home, they all were looking towards the door with their dismal faces. Mother had not seen a single one with his or her smiling face.
Being surprised, Mother Teresa asked the sister and learnt that these old parents were hurt because they were forgotten. Nearly everyday they were expecting, hoping that a son or a daughter would come to visit them. But none visited them. So, being forsaken and forgotten by the family members, these old inmates felt hurt and became unhappy. Thus, smile slipped from their lips. Such was the experience of Mother Teresa in an old age home in Calcutta.
2. *“I had the most extraordinary experience with the Hindu family that had eight children.” Which experience is Mother Teresa speaking of? [5] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2015]
👉In her ‘Nobel Lecture’ Mother Teresa has shared the most extraordinary experience in her life with a Hindu family that had eight children.
Once a gentleman came to Mother Teresa’s house and informed her that there was a family with eight children, they had not eaten for so long. The gentleman urged Mother Teresa to do something for the family. Hearing this, Mother Teresa, taking some rice, went there immediately. She saw that the children’s eyes were shining with hunger. Mother Teresa gave the rice to the mother of the starved family. The mother divided the rice into two portions, and taking one portion, she went out.
When she came back, being curious, Mother Teresa asked where she had gone and what she had done with the rice. The woman simply answered that she had given the portion of the rice to a Muslim family—their neighbour. She added that they were also in the same distress and they were hungry too. Mother Teresa was overwhelmed with joy to learn such extraordinary service of the poor Hindu family. Mother learnt the lesson of joy of sharing even in acute destitution.
Related Questions
[I] “I had the most extraordinary experience with the Hindu family that had eight children.” Describe the speaker’s most extraordinary experience.
[II] Describe the most extraordinary experience that Mother Teresa had.
[III] Which real incident did Mother Teresa cite when she wanted to know and love their neighbours? [WBCHSE Sample Question]
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3. In what ways does Mother Teresa appeal to the emotions of her audience? What stories does she share of her encounters with the poor in Kolkata? [2+3] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2016]
👉In her speech Mother Teresa is illustrative and full of liveliness. She reminds the audience to love God to live a beautiful life. She appeals to the emotions of her audience with her healing voice of love to evoke their love, peace, mutual feeling, compassion, forgiveness, charity, service to the poor, downtrodden. Mother also appeals to them to become a burning light of peace in the world so that they can love all as God loves, especially the poor and the destitute.
Mother Teresa has shared a number of heart-touching encounters with the poor in Kolkata. One evening Mother Teresa with her sisters picked up a dying woman from the street, and the lady, without blaming anybody, died at Mother’s home with a smile on her face expressing her thankfulness to Mother for serving her. Another similar incident happened when a man, half-eaten by worms, was picked up from the drain. He also thanked Mother Teresa as he was dying like an angel.
Again, an interesting incident of four years old Hindu boy, who donated his three days’ alloted sugar to Mother to share his great love with the children at Mother’s home. Finally the most touching story is about a poor starved Hindu family with eight children. The mother of the family shared the rice given by Mother with her neighbouring starved Muslim family and relished the rice in joy of sharing.
Related Question
In what way does Mother Teresa appeal to the emotions of her audience? [5] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2023]
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4. Why did Mother Teresa say that the poor people are great people? [5] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2020]
👉Mother Teresa has shared a number of heart-touching encounters with the poor in Kolkata. One evening Mother Teresa with her sisters picked up a dying woman from the street, and the lady, without blaming anybody, died at Mother’s home with a smile on her face expressing her thankfulness to Mother for serving her. Another similar incident happened when a man, half-eaten by worms, was picked up from the drain. He also thanked Mother Teresa as he was dying like an angel. Again, an interesting incident of four years old Hindu boy, who donated his three days’ alloted sugar to Mother to share his great love with the children at Mother’s home.
Finally the most touching story is about a poor starved Hindu family with eight children. The mother of the family shared the rice given by Mother with her neighbouring starved Muslim family and relished the rice in joy of sharing. Thus Mother finds the greatness and nobility of the poor through her encounters with them, and so she compares the poor people with ‘angles’.
Related Questions
[I] Cite examples from the text that made Mother think ‘the poor people are very great people’.
[II] *Why does Mother Teresa compare the poor people with ‘angles’?
[III] “The poor people are very great people.” Who remarks it and why? [1+4]
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5. Narrate the experience Mother Teresa had when there was great difficulty in getting sugar? [5] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2017]
👉In her ‘Nobel Lecture’ Mother Teresa has highlighted a number of experiences and encounters with the poor in Kolkata. One such experience was about securing sugar. Some time ago in Calcutta Mother Teresa and her sisters had great difficultly in getting sugar, and Mother did not know how the word got round to the children, and a little four-year old Hindu boy went home and proposed his parents that he would not eat sugar for three days and thus he wanted to accumulate sugar to offer it to Mother for the children of Mother’s home. The boy only wanted to relish the joy of sharing.
After three days when his parents brought the little boy to Mother’s home, this little one could scarcely pronounce Mother’s name, but he knew exactly what he had come to do. He knew that he wanted to share his love. Mother Teresa was deeply impressed by the little boy’s sense of sharing love with the poor children.
Related Question
[I] How did a four-year old boy share his love with the poor children.
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6. “And she died with a smile on her face” — How did she die with a smile on her face? [5] [WBCHSE Class-XI Annual Examination 2019]
👉Mother Teresa has shared a number of heart-touching encounters with the poor in Kolkata. One evening Mother Teresa with her sisters went out and picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. Mother told her sisters to take care of the other three. She herself took the worst one under her care. Though Mother tried her best to cure her, she could not survive and died with a smile on her face. Mother Teresa was surprised to see the greatness of the poor lady. She had no objection to her life. She simply took hold of Mother’s hand and without drawing a little attention to herself and without blaming anybody for her condition, died at Mother’s home with a smile on her face expressing her thankfulness to Mother for serving her. This experience moved Mother Teresa much and she learnt the greatness of the poor people from the dying lady.
