Mamata Barui hopes her garden can save her.
When the 16-year-old is not cleaning, cooking or otherwise caring for her four younger siblings, she waters and weeds patches of garlic, radishes and green chilies. She harvests bay leaves and tends pumpkins, beans and bottle gourds that grow near her family's cow shed.
Mamata's garden produces all the vegetables her family eats. She hopes the surplus will generate enough cash to stop her parents from marrying her off.
"I feel afraid," she said. "They say, 'You're not doing anything tangible.' If I can sell whatever I grow, they might think of delaying my marriage."
