In the novel, Nectar in a Sieve, by Karmala Markandya, Ruku tells the story of her life. For most of Ruku’s married life, she is at the mercy of immediate survival needs since she has to react to forces that she cannot control. In the city, Ruku’s survival needs are met, so even when she faces the forces she can’t control, she has more options to choose from. The hut that Ruku lives in is made of weak material and monsoons often will cause several small patches that show wear. After a monsoon hits the village, Ruku would just patch up the house again with the same weak material that wore off. "It had stood up well to the sun and wind, but after the monsoon rains several small patches showed wear and it was well to get things done in good time. Nathan cut fronds from the coconut palm that grew by our hut and dried them for me, together we twisted the fibre and bound the palms, shaping them to the roof."(Markandaya 17) Monsoons bring much devastation to Ruku. Her house keeps on falling apart. Ruku does very little to improve the house and doesn’t plan to improve the condition of the house. Part of the reason for Ruku to do so is because she doesn’t know when the next monsoon is going to hit the village. After a huge monsoon hits the village, the rice that Ruku and Nathan were growing on their land were destroyed, which seriously limits the amount of food Ruku has, which forces her to think about how to best use the food in the long term. This limitation on food forces Ruku to think about portioning and saving food more and more. For a long time, Ruku cannot get her hands on fresh food; therefore, she has to start rationing the little food they have, so her family doesn't starve. "The paddy was completely destroyed; there would be no rice until the next harvesting. Meanwhile, we lived on what remained of our salted fish, roots, and leaves, the fruit of the prickly pear, and on the plantains from our tree."(Markandaya 44). After the monsoon hits, Ruku has a very limited amount of food. She struggles to keep her family well fed. The struggle for food is mainly because she has so little of it to start with. The land does not provide enough food each year for Ruku to save a lot. Portioning the very little amount of food that she has, is how Ruku reacts to the monsoon. When Ruku and Nathan are in the city, all of their basic survival needs are met. They have a place to stay for the night and they know that they are going to be fed the next day. “Through the outer courtyards and along the corridors we went, going with the crowd to whome this was evidently a nightly routine, and into a large vaulted chamber with arched entrances opening on three sides…. ‘The food is given to the poor –to us-when it has been blessed’” (Markandaya 145). The living condition of the city is very different from that of the village. In the city, Ruku and Nathan don’t have to worry about their next meal and whether their shelter will stand the night. Since they don’t have to worry about these things, they have a lot more time on their hands. With all this time they never had before, Ruku and Nathan can now do a lot more things in the city; among the things that they do are, calculating how much money they need to go back to the village and thinking about how to make more money. Ruku and Nathan can do so much more in the city than they can in the village; and the main difference is that their survival needs are met. When Ruku and Nathan find out that their son, Murugan, has left his job as a servant and his wife, they learn to cope with this unfortunate news. When they found out, they knew that they can't expect their daughter-in-law to take care of them. Therefore, they decided to go back to the village, where they'll stay with their son, Selvam. "We made our calculations, crushing optimism whenever it arose so that we might be certain, absolutely certain. And at last we said to each other...'Soon we shall be back.'"(Markandaya 167) Ruku and Nathan found out the hard way that Murugan has left the city and his wife. Now that he’s gone, Ruku and Nathan have no purpose in the city. The only problem that they have is that they don’t have enough money to make the trip back. This challenge force Ruku and Nathan to collect money in any way they can and save it. If Ruku and Nathan want to succeed, they have to carefully examine their options and pick the right one. Ruku isn't afraid of new ways of making money. She knows that she has the time to try out new options, so she stops writing and reading for money and starts working at the quarry. "'Have you no wish to earn more?' I stared at him. "If only I could,' I said, half breathless.’Is there some way?'"(Markandaya 170) Before Ruku learned of the stone quarry, she never knew that she can learn more than 2-4 annas a day. However, after Puli tells her about it, she doesn't hesitate to go and work at the quarry, for she knows that if what Puli had told her is true, then she can go back to the village faster if she works there. As Ruku is being told of the quarry, she asked "Are we not beyond such labour?" (170) When Puli said that the quarry will hire anyone, Nathan said "lead on, we are in your hands" (170) Ruku and Nathan know that they can save more money everyday. Ruku and Nathan are willing to make changes to their plan if it means that they can accomplish their goal faster. In getting more money, Ruku and Nathan feel more certain that they can make it back to the village and see their children and grandson again. When Ruku and Nathan live in the village, there are many forces that they cannot control. They react to these forces in the sense that they need to survive. When Ruku and Nathan are in the city, their survival needs are met, so they don’t use their time thinking about how they’re going to feed their children anymore. With the extra time that Ruku and Nathan now have, they explore the different option the city offers that the village doesn’t.