The day has been a disappointment. There is strangely enough little resentment, between these two groups of hunters-and an amicable system has been worked out. The Irulas hunt by day and depend mainly on plant food, the Nari-Kuravas hunt by night and eat meat and are traders. The days pass swiftly. I must return to my work in the plains.
Life goes on in the hamlet.
In a few months the forests will be dry and the men will move out to search for jobs in the fields. Their cousins in the town of Poondi have been offered land and pucca houses-but no Irula can remain trapped within cement walls for long, and the houses are occupied by city people. As I leave the settlement, Chenchamma calls for the dogs, the children cry excitedly, the nets swing from glistening shoulders another day has begun .