Before Gita Left
- Lakshmi remembers playing with her friend Gita before Gita went to work as a maid for a wealthy woman in the city.
- One of Lakshmi's memories includes that of Krishna, a "boy with sleepy cat eyes, the one I am promised to in marriage" (2.BeforeGita.3).
- Because of the money Gita earns as a maid, her family has nicer things in their hut, like pots and glasses.
- But Lakshmi still misses her friend.