“This award is in fact about Mother Teresa and about the rich legacy she has left to each one of us: a legacy of total compassion and unconditional reaching out to the poorest of the poor, the dying destitute, the unloved and the uncared - of this world. It surely provides me and all our colleagues and collaborators of ‘Prashant’ a significant motivation for what we try to do and in fact comes as a challenge that we transcend our own small world and reach out in more tangible ways to those who hunger and thirst for love, dignity and justice.

 

Mother Teresa has always been someone special in my life. Yes, she is truly a Saint and for me, an icon who has inspired my way of proceeding, since I first met her in Calcutta, way back in 1972. For more than twenty-five years now, I have been closely associated with her Missionaries of Charity in Ahmedabad and I learn much from them all the time. 

 

I therefore, dedicate this award to the Missionaries of Charity - to each one of them for the selfless, super-human work they do all the time without counting the cost, without any recognition and most often, without the appreciation they truly deserve. They are truly the unsung heroes of our world today – caring with compassion, dignity and meaning to the dying destitute, the unloved, the poorest of the poor - who are condemned to an inhuman existence.

 

Sisters Magdalita and Juditha are present here today. Thank you dear Sisters for all that you and the many Missionaries of Charity, inspired and guided by Mother Teresa, do for our world today.  God bless you and all your efforts.Thank you, once again dear friends, for this wonderful recognition! I certainly feel very emotional and overwhelmed at this moment.May Mother Teresa bless each one of us and give us that courage we need to truly love and serve the least of our sisters and brothers and without counting the cost!