Times of plenty can turn into times of loss and devastation in a sudden reversal. No one knows this better than the herder, who is in intimate touch with the elements, open and exposed. Sometimes it rains, but then it doesn’t stop. The monsoon becomes menacing, bringing disease and death in its relentlessness.

A entire herd of animals can be reduced to a few surviving haggard ones in the space of a few weeks. The herders have systems that ensure that people look out for each other. But really it is faith and acceptance that gets the herder back up on his or her feet, and walking again… for she knows it better than many security-conscious, nervous urban dwellers, that all one’s plans and possessions could be blown away by a gust of wind….