Time passes, and Mother finally reaches home. The people of the community are still sitting in the veranda, talking among themselves.
As soon as they see Mother arriving, they make way for her to go inside. The moment she reaches Rati, she breathes a sigh of relief. She touches Rati's forehead to check her fever.
Rama brings water and sugar for Mother. Just as Mother is drinking water, Rati opens her eyes. Finding herself in her mother's room, the first thing she does is look for her bag—the one in which she had kept her little sister. But when she cannot find it, she shouts,
"Where is my bag?!"
Mother doesn't know anything about it, so she asks Rama, "Rama, where is her bag?"
"I don't know."
Rati immediately gets down from the bed and starts searching for her bag. Hearing the noise, Father comes upstairs. The people from the community also try to come up to see what's happening, but Grandmother and Uncle ask them to stay back, and they agree.
Seeing Father, Rati becomes very angry. Father goes near her and says, "Rati, what happened, child?"
Rati, angrily, says, "Where is my bag?!"
Father replies, "It was damaged, so I threw it away."
Rati, crying, comes close to Father and starts hitting his legs with her fists, saying, "My sister was inside it! Why did you throw it away?!"
Father tries to calm her down, "Rati, that little baby… the Goddess has taken her with her."
Rati shouts, "No! You are lying!"
Saying this, she tries to run away. To stop her, Mother slaps her and says, "If you try to go anywhere again, I will beat you more. Stay here quietly!"
But Rati is not one to listen. She replies, "Hit me as much as you want, but I will still go!"
Mother gets angry and says, "Oh, you will go? Just wait, I'll show you."
She brings a rope made of jute from inside, ties Rati's hands and feet with it, and then ties her to the bed. After that, she goes downstairs with Rama and Father.
Everyone feels bad seeing this, but they all know how stubborn Rati is, so no one goes against Mother.
Rati cries for some time, and then eventually falls asleep right there.
By 12 noon, Mother is in the kitchen, cooking food for everyone.
Mother prepares Rati's favorite dishes—kathal (jackfruit curry), puris, and also kheer—hoping that it will calm her anger.
She sends the food to Rati through Rama, because if she herself asked Rati to eat, Rati would refuse. In the whole house, the only person Rati might listen to is Rama.
Rama takes the food to Rati, but Rati still refuses to eat. When Rama comes downstairs and tells everyone, no one feels like eating anymore, and they all leave their meals halfway.
The people from the neighborhood have gone back to their homes, but everyone is still talking about Rati. Meanwhile, Rati is desperately trying to find a way to escape from there. Then an idea comes to her mind.
She calls Rama and asks, "Rama, have you finished your homework?"
"Yes, I have."
"But I haven't done mine."
"Give it to me, I'll do it for you."
At that moment, Rati remembers that she had thrown all her books in the jungle, but she doesn't tell this to Rama. Instead, she says,
"No, if you do it, the teacher will recognize your handwriting, and then she'll punish both you and me."
Rama agrees with this. So she unties Rati's ropes.
As soon as she is free, Rati locks Rama inside Mother's room and runs away. But hearing the noise, everyone comes to know, and halfway down the path, Uncle catches Rati and brings her back home.
Father has to go to the shop, so to prevent Rati from running away again, he takes her along with him.
Rati cries, but no one softens.
Days pass like this. Father keeps Rati with him at the shop and does not bring her back home.
When Father finally succeeds in convincing Rati that her new sister has been taken away by the Goddess, Rati begins to look for ways to get her back from the Goddess.
Until now, she only wanted to meet the Goddess to ask for her lion, but now the matter has become very serious. Meeting the Goddess has become extremely important for her.
For this, Rati takes a vow to follow all rituals with complete sincerity. She decides that from now on, she will never lie, never steal, and will eat only once a day.
But it now seems that Rati's vow is going to become very difficult for everyone to handle.