India, May 26 -- Helen Bharde will not remind you of anyone extraordinary. With a gentle smile on her face and her small, delicate figure, she looks very much like the caring mother or the friendly aunt next door. However, beneath this modest exterior lies an iron will and a heart burning with passion for humanity. Helen Bharde's exceptional legacy of social service in the city of Mumbai goes back over forty years, earning her the deep affection of the masses and the title of "The Mother Teresa of Golibar" (Golibar slums being the starting point for her full-fledged social activism).

Hailing from a lower middle-class Mangalorean Catholic family based in Mumbai (then Bombay), young Helen fell in love with and married Answer Bharde, an ent...