Into the Forest
One morning in May, 40-year-old Anushabai woke up as usual at 5 am to head into the nearby forest to collect produce. After returning home, she prepared mahua pudding, which she served in sal leaves to her ten-year-old nephews, Jangu and Srinivas. The children enjoyed their breakfast, but Anushabai despaired that she could not give them more to eat. Since the nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic began, her village of Markaguda has battled a chronic shortage of food.
The residents of Markaguda, 15 families from the Gond tribe, have migrated from nearby villages over the past thirty years in search of
