At night, she could hear the sound of the melam drums from the temple, marking the beginning of the festival. She did not know when they would make the pongal offering. What would she do even if she did know? What would the village decide after the festival? It would be better if they moved to Virichipalayam before that. Given the tenderness and concern with which Kumaresan had woken her that morning, she was hopeful that he might now agree to the idea of moving to Virichipalayam. If she really was pregnant, he wouldn’t leave her here. In Virichipalayam, there were all those women in the neighbouring houses—they would help her. They were just like her neighbours back in Tholur. If she insisted with him now, she was sure he’d agree to move. As she sat down on the rock, her stomach cramped and tightened. She had not eaten properly the night before. Since they had expected to eat at the feast at Chellakka’s house, they had not prepared any food at home. However, they had to return from the ceremony without having anything. They had no desire for food at the time, so they went to bed after eating what little was left in the pot at home. She was hungry now, but there was nothing in the pot. Her mother-in-law must have cooked some food for herself. If she ate a little of that, Marayi wouldn’t find out, would she? She looked around her, but she could not spot her mother-in-law anywhere in the vicinity. She must have gone quite a distance, herding the goats.

Saroja got up and walked into the hut in front of her. Until then, she had not even peeped inside. The hut had no solid walls, just thatched palm fronds all around, held together to form an enclosure. There were baskets and spades lying scattered in front of the hut. Inside, in a corner, she spotted the vessels in which her mother-in-law cooked her food. They were all mud pots. She removed the lid of the rice pot that had been kept on the stove. Immediately, the scent of cooked kambu millets pierced her nose. She could even make out the dip in the rice where a ladleful had been scooped out.