nectar in a sieve
...and Nathan moved to Ceylon after losing their jobs at the tannery for starting a strike; the third son went to the city to get a job; the fourth was killed when he was found searching for food around the tannery; the fifth became apprenticed to a white doctor; the last died as a child. With very little substance to begin with, the family was dependent on a small chunk of land they rented from a cold hearted landlord. The family's home was a mud structure with a thatched roof and dirt floor. They planted rice and vegetables, but the crops were destroyed by drought and monsoon, they were forced to sell most of their possessions and live extremely frugally. For short periods, they enjoyed some happiness. When the family was small, the crop was good, and the boys worked in the tannery, the family ate well, had crops to sell, and were able to save some of their rice. Kenny, the white doctor, whose dream was to build a hospital with the foreign aid he collected, became a close family friend and helped them with money, food, and medicine. The tannery in the village provided jobs for some but increased the price of goods and squeezed most of the peasants off the land. When Nathan's land was sold to the tannery, he and Ruku went to the city to search for their third son (who they hadn‘t heard from in years) . There they found the city to be just as cruel as the country...