SHANKARAPURA, India — Sitting on a red platform stringing flower buds on banana tree fiber, 87-year-old Agnes Rodriguez barely glances up as a stranger enters her home with her son Vincent. But there is a warmth in her expression that lights up the room.
“I have done this all my life,” she says, smiling as her hands string the flowers with effortless precision. “There is not a day in the last close to 80 years when I have not strung these flowers; it’s almost like my second nature.”