Nectar in a sieve continued

As I continue reading things Rukmani is facing even more problems.  At this point in the book she is worried that they won't be able to harvest the season's rice because they are so weak from having no food.  The paddy won't be ready for another three weeks which makes things even worse because they don't even know if they can make it that long.  Their sixth son Kuti has a rash all over his body that Rukmani worries about.  Luckily, somehow he gets better and she finally is able to sleep at night.  Unfortunately, while Rukmani is sleeping she wakes up to hear an intruder (or so she thinks) most likely coming to steal what littlle they have left.  Rukmani goes outside in a rage to try and see the intruder.  Rukmani is so tired and hungry she just loses control and starts beating the intruder.  Nathan comes outside and pulls Rukmani off the intruder and starts yelling at Rukmani because the intruder was actually their daughter Ira.  Most of Ira gashes came from the glass bangles she was wearing which worries Nathan and Rukmani because a piece like this usually come from prostitution.  When Nathan gets home from the fields one night he sees Ira all dressed up ready for the night, ready to sell her body.  Kuti leaves before the rice season which is unfortunate because this year the harvest is splendid.  The family not only has enough food for themselves, but also to sell.  We get the happy news that Ira is pregnant.  However, although the news is happy she has no idea who the father is since she has been selling her body.  Her mother tries to defend Ira to Kenny, but Kenny said he knew that she would turn to "streetwalking" so the news of this didn't surprise him.  Nathan

doesn't really seem to give much input on this matter except for a baby is a baby. Sometimes I think the way we view children varies quite a bit from people like
Nathan and the rest of their village.  For example, a baby in their village would be another mouth to feed, but also another worker for the harvests.  Still at the end of this section Rukmani has a positive attitude.