Nagarajan tries to reason with Smita: if they run away, they are sure to suffer terrible reprisals. People would come for Lalita, too. A child’s life was worth no more than its mother’s: both of them would be raped, and strung up from a tree, like the two young Dalit girls from a neighbouring village last month. Smita has already heard the statistic, it makes her shiver: over two million women killed across the country every year, to the indifference of all. Victims of the barbarity of men. The whole world cares nothing. The world has abandoned them.

Who does she think she is, in the face of such violence, such overwhelming hatred? Does she think she can escape it? Does she think she is stronger than all the others?

But Nagarajan’s terrifying arguments cannot break Smita’s stubborn determination. They will leave by night, she tells him. She will prepare their departure in secret. They will go to Varanasi, the holy city, one hundred kilometres away, and from there they will take the train across India to Chennai: her mother’s cousins live there, they will help them. Chennai is beside the sea, people say a man has created a fishing community for the scavengers, for people like her. There are schools for the Dalit children. Lalita will learn to read and write. They will find work. They will never have to eat rat-meat again.

Nagarajan stares at Smita in disbelief. How will they pay for the journey? Train tickets cost more than everything they have. They have given their meagre savings to the Brahmin, to send Lalita to school. There is nothing left. Smita lowers her voice. She is exhausted by her sleepless nights, but strangely, she feels stronger than ever, here in the dark hut. They will have to go and take their money back. She knows where to find it. She saw the Brahmin woman, once, hiding her savings in the kitchen when Smita went into their house to empty the latrines. She goes there every day. One minute is all it will take …

Nagarajan explodes: is she possessed, by some asura?! Her dreadful scheme will get them all killed, her and all her family. He would prefer to eat rats all his life and catch rabies than go along with her crazy plans! If Smita was caught, they would all die, in the worst possible way. It was a dangerous game, and not worth the risk. There was no hope for them in Chennai, nor anywhere else. There was no hope for them in this life, only in the next. If they conducted themselves well, perhaps the cycle of reincarnation would be kind.