Mother Teresa now starring in a comic book

To commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of the late Mother Teresa, Amar Chitra Katha launches its first title in four years. Question is, will the generation that's grown up on Dora and Ben 10 fall for it? Eight year-old twins, Tisha and Mahika, might have the answer

Last week marked the 100th birth anniversary of one of the world's most enduring imagesu00a0-- second perhaps only to Michelangelo's La Pietau00a0-- of the mother figure: Mother Teresa. To mark the occasion Amar Chitra Katha launched a new title based on the life of the famed humanitarian, born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu.

Mother Teresa,Little Acts of Love, Amar Chitra Katha. Pic/ Satyajit Desai

The 30-page comic book is an attempt to chronicle the 1980 Bharat Ratna awardee's life right from her birth in the town of sk b in the Ottoman Empire (today's Skopje: the capital of Macedonia), to her death in 1987.
"What I found most interesting about Mother Teresa was the scale on which she carried out her work, and that too in a country like India," says Samir Patil, CEO, ACK Media Pvt Ltd.

At the time of her death, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity was allegedly responsible for 610 missions in 123 countries. "In the last few years, poverty has virtually disappeared in our films and television programmes. It's almost as if we are living in a different country altogether," says Samir, who hopes that the book will attract like-minded individuals and motivate them to do good work for the poor.

For Reena Puri, editor, ACK, the magnitude of impact of the comic is not a primary concern. "For me, the book's message is that if you reach out with love in the smallest way, it goes a long way," says Reena over the phone from Bangalore.

In fact, the scriptwriter of Mother Teresa, Shalini Srinivasan, lived with the sisters from the Missionaries of Charity for three days in Kolkata while researching the project.

Test-drive
Given that the book is targetted at the under-15 audience, we thought we would ask eight year-olds for their reaction to the book.

Tisha Pahuja, who had not heard of Mother Teresa before, explains, "Agnes was a little girl who was very caring and religious and had compassion for people."
This is the first comic book for Tisha who, like her twin Mahika, enjoys reading Enid Blyton. "Five o'clock Tales is my favourite book," she says.

Mahika liked the story about "the girl who wanted to become a missionary" and says, "Longer stories are nicer to read as they are more interesting. I enjoy reading more than watching TV, because movies are too long," she adds. Given a choice though, Mahika might opt to read Amelia Jane over a comic. "I like that Amelia's very naughty," she says.

Reality check
For Reena the most important learning from Mother Teresa's life is the influence that parents have over their children's lives. "It's never too late for parents to give an input in their kids' lives and it's never too late for kids to learn," says Reena.

Reena is unfazed by reports that interest in reading among younger generations is dwindling, recalling the time she reached for Homer's Iliad while she was still in the seventh standard. "It's true that in our time we would read anything we could get our hands on. Today, children have so many more choices in terms of fiction," she says adding, "Comic books are picture stories and if they are well-written, children will read and remember them."

Mother Teresa, Little Acts of Love; edited by Reena Puri; Rs 40, ACK-Media. Available at leading bookstores and online at amarchitrakatha.com.