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A handful of migrant labourers rebuilding a stretch of highway have spotted her and come running towards the car. With a broad smile and a welcome in Hindi, she starts to distribute snacks to the labourers.
This act of kindness is not a one-off.
For the past 28 years, Mrs Bala, now in her 70s, has been helping Bahrain's migrant labourers, most of whom come from the Indian subcontinent, in any way she can.
A practising lawyer, she has helped solve scores of labour disputes, talked dozens out of suicide, clothed and fed hundreds of workers too poor to buy adequate clothing or feed themselves, and provided much-needed kindness in a world that tends to ignore them.
Her friends refer to her as the 'Mother Teresa of Bahrain.'
And, to the 350,000 migrant labourers responsible for Bahrain's breakneck development Mrs Bala is seen as a surrogate mother.
'She is like a mother to us. She has adopted us,' said Mohammed Rashid, a 25-year-old labourer from Bangladesh.
He is wearing a thick sweater and two woolly hats given to him by Mrs Bala.
As he sets out from his labour camp for his evening job of washing cars, she cautions him to wrap up warm.
Mrs Bala does not have children, but likes to say that she has 'adopted the whole of Bahrain.'
Throughout the kingdom's labour camps she is a familiar figure. When she arrived in Bahrain from Hyderabad, India, in 1979, she started helping labourers with gifts of food and clothing.
'It was the Prophet's birthday and I wanted to do something to help people who had less than me,' she explains.
A devout Muslim, she began distributing food supplies and basic necessities. In winter she would bring warm clothes, bedding and heaters, and in the summer she would distribute water, air-conditioning units and cold drinks.
She also started making frequent visits to sick and injured labourers in Salmaniya Medical Complex.
'It was heart-warming and also eye-opening,' she explains. 'They were people who had nothing but were always so happy to have a visitor and they would have tears in their eyes because someone was kind to them.'
However, the more time she spent with the labourers, the more problems she became aware of. Immigration disputes were ubiquitous, abuse was rampant, visa sponsors and employers confiscated passports and wages were frequently withheld.
Armed with a legal background, Mrs Bala would step in and soon her name was whispered throughout the labour camps as someone who could help.
'In the middle of the night there was a knock at my front door and someone I had helped before had brought a friend. He hadn't eaten for two days, he couldn't get a job and it was then that I realised there were so may people that were suffering and hungry. You just need to scratch the surface and you find lots of people who desperately need help,' she says.
The bleaker side of Bahrain's vertical and horizontal spiral is well-documented. The gleaming high-rises are buttressed by sometimes squalid work camps.
Newspapers are filled with stories of unscrupulous employers, low salaries and the workers whose dreams of returning home wealthier are all-too-often not realised.
But few have made the kind of commitment that Mrs Bala has to helping them, or in such a humble fashion.
'We should reach out to people and treat everyone with love and respect,' she explains. 'Give like you are sharing. Say, 'I have extra so let's share,'' she explains.
When asked if she often pays for supplies herself when donations are low, she simply says everything we have is given by 'Him.'
Almost three decades on, Mrs Bala has inspired countless others to donate warm clothes and supplies - which she stockpiles in her own home - and has established a small group of dedicated helpers to gather goods and deliver them.
Together they form 'Helping Hands,' an organisation founded by Mrs Bala seven years ago.
On a blustery cold morning, Mrs Bala and two of her 'helping hands' visit two camps where they distribute packages filled with socks, sweaters, blankets and hats.
One is a model camp where workers have warm, clean dormitories with fridges, TVs and heaters, and the other is Dickensian, dilapidated and cramped.
At the Bahrain Livestock labour camp in Sitra, labourers who work the nightshift welcome her. Some are wearing clothes given to them by Mrs Bala last year, and blankets donated last winter cover their beds.
'She is the only one who comes to see us, and her gifts are a big help,' explains Abdul Sajid, 27, from Hyderabad.
'She's a very good lady, she's always helping us, and we're really thankful to her,' says Mohammed Jalall, 27, also from Hyderabad.
But these labourers are the lucky ones, says Mrs Bala. Their BD90 monthly salary is always paid on time and their living and working conditions are among the best in the country.
Across the island in Budaiya village, 40 Bangladeshi labourers, whose job is to clean the Saudi causeway, live in a rundown building with smashed windows, walls gaping with holes and a decaying corrugated roof.
Scrawled graffiti on the outside of the building appropriately reads 'SOS'. These labourers earn just BD22 a month and without Mrs Bala's help and the extra income they garner from odd-jobs and car-washing they would struggle to survive.
Inside they have fridges, stoves and blankets donated by Helping Hands.
One labourer, Lal Chand, 38, has known Mrs Bala since he arrived in Bahrain nine years ago. He explains that a few years ago he was stricken with bladder stones, but that Mrs Bala and her helpers secured an operation.
'She saved me,' he says. 'She has always helped us. Ever since I arrived here she has brought us rice, water, oil, sugar and warm clothes.'
'We see her like our mother, someone who cares for us,' says 35-year-old Amir Ul-Islam.
Mrs Bala spends much of her time speaking with men like Lal and Amir, helping them to solve personal or work-related problems and trying to supply basic necessities to help them live a better quality of life.
'They never complain. I ask them what they want, but they always smile and say nothing. It's hard to get them to tell you what it is they need, but eventually they do,' she reveals.
Her ability to secure basic human rights, propelled her into a leading voice for migrant workers.
She has worked with a number of rights organisations and is keen to point out that out of all the GCC countries, Bahrain has the best human rights records.
Over the years Mrs Bala has also provided provisions for hundreds of labourers whose camps have been ravaged by fires, galvanising support through the local press.
She has also helped hundreds of young maids who find themselves in terrifying situations here, as well as local Bahraini families who are in need.
And those she helps do not forget.
'I get a lot of letters and calls from people who have returned to Pakistan and India, and want to say thank you,' she explains. 'It makes me very happy.'
Scores of people and organisations have been inspired by her work and have offered their support. Some have even followed her lead.
Two women who used to work with her have started similar projects in Dubai and the US.
In Bahrain, dozens of people are motivated to give to the cause. Helping Hands only accepts donations of clothes supplies or time, but not money.
'It is easier this way,' explains Mrs Bala. 'We don't lose track of anything and people can either donate provisions or those who are willing to give time and commit themselves to the cause can also help.'
One woman, who asked not to be named, called to say she had bought 50 sweaters and 50 pairs of socks.
'I was freezing and I was living in a beautiful apartment and these guys are out there with nothing. It's hard to think you have so much and there are so many who go without,' she explains.
Her sentiment is not uncommon and the actions of Mrs Bala motivate many to finally act.
And this is one of Mrs Bala's mantras.
'When you feel you want to do something, do it immediately, don't wait,' she says. 'We must be so thankful for what we have and instil a sense of gratefulness to our creator that we have a wonderful life,' says adds.
'There is the saying: 'I was sad because I had no shoes, then I saw a man who had no feet.' Not everyone is happy and even if people look happy we must still reach out to them.'
Coming from another these words could seem sentimental, but coming from Mrs Bala whose services to humanity are great, they ring true.
But Mrs Bala is one of the unsung heroes of Bahrain. She has never received an official award for her work.
Although for her, being in a position to help is likely reward enough.
l If you would like donate or volunteer call Salma Bala 39612092.
