Mogari (jasmine flower) shuffled her feet at the doorstep and her distinctive smell waffled through the closed door.  ‘Bai’ she called out, “Bagin aheo,” (hurry up and open the door.  It’s heavy!)  This was Mogari’s patent statement at every doorstep that she went to.  We were used to her daily whining and Shannu our maid took her sweet time to open the door.  The basket of boot was helped down and Mogari stood upright with one hand on her hip. That was her style statement. A towel rolled flat to help her hold the basket on her head.  This towel was multi functional.  Once the basket was set down she did use the same towel to wipe off the sweat streaming down her face, neck and escaping into her blouse over which she wore the traditional Kunbi Saree, which I thought, was quite fashionable. She wiped her face and looked through the door inside to see to if Ma or one us were coming, constantly fanning herself at the same time. Of course, the towel was now turned into a temporary fan. This towel would later turn into an umbrella, shielding her from the heat of the sun or the pouring rain.  Many a times after all the stuff was sold from the basket then she did fashionably drape the towel around her shoulders and hold the basket on one side of her hip and walk down the down.  At times like these, she reminded me of a model walking down the ramp. Mogari’s basket was a seasonal carrier.  What I mean is most of the year round she normally carried fish but the days when fish was scarce or hard to get, then that the basket saw other goodies.  For example during rains, we got our share of the best leafy veggies on our table, come peak summer—the juicy mankudrad (Alphonso mangoes), and wild berries! Yes, wild berries.  God, how we waited eagerly for this particular season. Thinking about those wild berries makes my mouth water even now. These berries are hard to find in the markets and even if they available in the local mandis (market) they costed a bomb.  For years she had managed to get them for us.  As a child there times that, I used to sneak out with my friends onto the hills, which lay yonder the huge medical campus that we stayed in, only to return home with plenty of bruises and ant bites and a few berries in our hands!   The huge red ants viciously protecting what was theirs and attacking us wherever they could as we tried to get those berries.  It always amazed me to see Mogari come home with those berries sans the bruises.  I wonder, even to this day what tricks or magic she had rolled beneath her sleeve. Mogari came from the fisher community but she never restrained herself doing only that.  She changed according to her needs or rather to the availability of the products.  Her struggle in life was nothing different from the struggles that we see around us in our society but what made her different was her ability to adapt to any situation that came her way. Whatever the situation be it rain or the scorching heat, she was always there, moving door-to-door, selling her treasures that lay in her basket.  I vividly remember that Mogari did not turn up for two whole days and we missed her very much.  You see Mogari was our daily fish supplier and we depended on her to get it for us. We never bothered going to the market or finding an alternative person who would delivery fish home.  Two days later, the moment her voice came through, the first to run to the door were Chippy and Drizzle and why not, they loved her.  She was the one who normally got the fish that was daily feed to these pomes at home.  Mom immediately began scolding her only to stop mid-sentence, of what she was about to say and instead exclaimed, “Morgari, kedaa zalae?  (What happened?)  She looked pale, lost.  Her eyes seem filled with sorrow and pain that she could not share with anyone and hopelessness, despair written all over her.  There was no noise, Mogari squatted on the doorstep and poured her heart out. She had lost husband to drink.  However, necessity forced her to come back to work within two days.  Mom offered some money but she refused, saying she would take it if she ever did need it.  To this day, she has never taken anything extra, only the occasional clothes and sweets that are given during the festivals.  I realized that here was this woman, faced with so many hardships and was ever ready to face what came her way.