The centenary celebrations for Mother Teresa have ensured that images of her with destitute men, women and children whom she saved from death and indignity can be seen everywhere. Most of us have never seen this most compassionate of beings in real life, but we have no problem in recognising her wherever her photograph is shown. She is everywhere.

Her face with its saintly smile, her hands folded in prayer, or holding a baby, are totally familiar to all of us, through images taken by India’s ace photographer, Raghu Rai. It is thus fitting that an exhibition of some of the most famous of these images, should be on show in the capital, to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Mother Teresa.

A national daily wrote, “Raghu Rai met Mother Teresa in the early 1970s and was immediately captivated by a woman who, from the age of 12, was fully aware of her ‘mission’.” He was quoted as saying, “It was a beatific radiance. Meeting Mother was like having a darshan; the aura was something that always stayed with you.”

About his exhibition he was quoted as saying, “Her daily act and sewa were so intense and powerful; her eyes held compassion, concern and love. If you look at any image in the show, there is so much strength in her very being. I always felt: Here was a person who was absolutely 100 per cent human. Here was a person who did only two things — being in prayer and looking after the sick…There was so much to learn from Mother Teresa’s wonderful example.”

Some years ago, Rai, who had spent almost three decades in photographing Mother Teresa, brought out a book in which some of his most famous images had been printed.

Needless to say, the book has been a bestseller and throughout the centenary year, we can expect many more copies to be sold.

I was inspired to turn my hand to creating some paintings on Mother Teresa, as did many others. However, the most famous of these was undoubtedly M F Husain, who had also painted a whole series of works on Kolkata’s living saint.

The works that he created were large oils, which were displayed at the time, in the lobby of the newly built Tata Centre in Kolkata.

Husain has always been among my favourite painters and this series was as effective as his work has always been. In Husain’s hands, it needed just three parallel lines of blue, to depict Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity that she founded.

We can only conjecture that if Husain had been in India, at this time, he might well have wished to participate in the celebrations. Who knows he may have decided to launch another new series in her honour.

But this is just conjecture. Hopefully, there will be many artists and sculptors in the coming year who will remember Mother Teresa through their works. In the words of an international journalist, “Mother Teresa became the inspiration for thousands who dedicated their life to her dream, and the light of love for the millions she comforted.”