Mrs Kulkarni had one sheet of paper and forty-two doors.

She was seventy-one and lived on the second floor of Sai Residency, a housing society in Mumbai. For two months, the society office had held back the wages of Sunita, who swept the stairs and washed the compound at six every morning. The committee said funds were short.

Sunita did not complain. Mrs Kulkarni had noticed that she no longer stopped for tea.

So she wrote one line at the top of the sheet. Please pay Sunita’s wages. Then she put on her chappals and went to knock.

At 101, Mr Rane said, “Let the committee decide.”

At 203, a young woman said she did not want any trouble.

At 304, nobody opened at all, though the television was on.

By the fourth floor, her knees were hurting. The paper in her hand felt very light, and very silly. One name on it. Her own.

At 402, she almost walked past. She had barely spoken to Priya in five years.

But Priya opened the door, read the line, and held out her hand for the pen. Her hand shook a little as she signed. Then she looked at the sheet and said, “Give me the other wing. I’ll take it.”

By evening, there were forty-two names.

They were written in Marathi, English and Gujarati. Some were neat. Some leaned sideways. One was only an initial and a long line.

The next morning, someone pinned the sheet to the notice board, beside the schedule for the garba nights.

At six o’clock, Sunita came with her broom. She stopped.

She could not read much English. But she knew the names. She began at the top and read them with one finger, slowly. She read Kulkarni. She read Priya. Near the bottom, she found round and careful letters that said, Mrs Rane.

Sunita leaned her broom against the wall. She did not stop until the last name.

Scripture/Source: Inspired by Maa Katyayani, the sixth Navadurga form, who is linked in tradition with the defeat of Mahishasura. In the Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana, chapter 2), the combined radiance of many gods forms the Goddess, a story often read as the power of strength joined together.

The modern meaning here is our own interpretation. This is an original modern story inspired by that tradition, not a retelling of scripture.