“Tell me,” he asked the women at the table. “What do we not understand?”

She packed her daughter, Anjali, for school. Anjali’s uniform was Western—polo shirt and trousers—but on her wrist was a black thread to ward off the evil eye, and her tiffin box contained pulihora (tamarind rice) wrapped in a banana leaf. “Don’t eat with your left hand,” Meera reminded her. “And don’t let anyone tell you that math is for boys.”

She looked at her sleeping daughter. Tomorrow, Meera would fight the landlord who raised the water bill. Tomorrow, she would teach Anjali that her body was her own. Tomorrow, she might even ask her husband to wash the dishes—just to see the look on his face.