Missionaries of Charity was to care for (in Mother Teresa's words) "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." It began as a small community with 12 members in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and today it has over 4,500 Sisters running orphanages, home for those dying of AIDS, charity centres worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine in Asia, Africa, Latin
Nirmala (novel) her friend, Sudha. He tried to seduce Nirmala, but his wife learned of it and criticized him harshly. Bhuvanmohan became emotionally distressed, and out of sorrow and his love for her, he committed suicide. Depressed by the sad turn of events and her own failing health, Nirmala gave her daughter Asha to Rukhmini, Totaram's widowed sister, and died. A much older Totaram returned home to discover Nirmala had died. Set against a background of pre-independent India, "Nirmala" depicts a realistic and picturesque portrait of the 1920s, the language and milieu of the era. It characterizes the evils of the dowry