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) issues. The story uses fiction to highlight an era of much needed social reform in 1920s Indian society. "Nirmala" was serialized in 1928 in "Chand", a women’s magazine in which the novel’s feminist character was represented. "Nirmala" is somewhat like "Godaan" (published in 1936) in that it deals with the exploitation of the village poor, and was translated by multiple scholarly translators. It was first translated in 1988 as "The Second Wife" by David Rubin, and in 1999 as "Nirmala" by Alok Rai, Premchand's grandson. Udayabhanu Lal, a lawyer by profession, arranged to marry off his 15-years-old daughter Nirmala to