Calendar
- At Lakshmi's school, her "moonfaced teacher" keeps track of days on a calendar (7.Calendar.1).
- The way Lakshmi keeps track of days is different, though: she tracks the work women do and the sorrows they experience.
- In the winter women go hungry so their children can eat, and despite this sacrifice, the children may die of fever.
- In the dry months women collect animal scat to use as fire fuel, and children die of a coughing disease.
- In rainy months, women repair their hut walls and try to stretch their food, and children die because they can't get to a doctor.
- And in the cool months women make special food and beer for the men, and they drink a special drink to prevent themselves from becoming pregnant so that they won't have to watch more of their children die.