The venerable nun is here. Mother Teresa arrived In Bangladesh yesterday bringing message of sympathy and prayers for salvation of the souls of the unknown number of people lost forever to the sea. This is the second time she has come to this flat, but majestic delta created and sustained by the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. For Mother Teresa, the fact that this is also a country visited too often by misfortunes beyond human control, will remain inescapable.

Perhaps the most deserving of all the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Mother Teresa understands tragedy: more than most, she can claim to know, to feel, what it is like to be unfortunate. For her, charity or care is not conducted from the comfortable surroundings of a five-star hotel or a plush drawing room. She goes down to the depths, down where human sufferings are, and shares the sorrow. She has sacrificed her entire life for the welfare of others: she has foregone all the comfort and pleasure life has to offer. Just to lessen, even if only a tiny bit. the agony and pain suffered by the less fortunate of this earth.

But what makes her pass her days in the slums, shanties and ghettoes of this wretched world ? What makes her leave everything Just so she could bring some comfort to the sick and distressed ? What makes her bear the cross of human misery. Just as her lord Jesus Christ did, so that the sins of others would be forgiven ? If we are looking for answers, we need not look very far, because the truth is within her; because she is driven by a conscience dedicated to the salvation of the human race.

She has not brought any plane-load of goods with her, nor any promises of material aid. But what she has brought are those unquantlfiable and invaluable commodities — inspiration and hope. In our hour of need, we desperately seek something that will give us courage to hold on, to fight back and to survive. To the millions of our suffering, hungry people on the islands and along the coast, struggling to stay alive for another 24 hours. Mother Teresa's .presence, we hope, will be like a beacon of light in an all-pervading darkness. In return, all we can offer her is our gratitude, the deepest gratitude we can muster as a nation. For. Mother Teresa represents everything that is good about the human spirit. Her presence amongst us gives us courage for the present and hope for the future.