Corey writes:
Today I had planned to share recipes for amazing Indian roti and even more amazinger chai, but, like many things in India, the plan changed at the last minute. When Gina and I arrived at the office today, we were "Namaskar"ing everybody like usual, and somebody mentioned that there is a solar eclipse today. "Oh cool!" we said, and then brushed it off like we usually do in the U.S., but then things took a turn for the different.
Our coworker told us that we couldn't eat during the time of the eclipse (11:45am to 3:30pm) because the cosmic rays given off by the eclipse would cause us not to digest any food we ate during that time. Then, another coworker told us it was only rice that we couldn't eat. In addition, we shouldn't go outside during the eclipse because those same bad vibes would damage our eyes and give us skin diseases. This was a little confusing to us, but the message was clear: the canteen would not be serving lunch today (Gina will be following up with a post about our typically awesome lunch soon). A cold sweat formed on the back of my neck as primal fight-or-flight instincts kicked in: "What am I going to eat? How will I survive? I'm hungry already!!!!!!!". A wave of relief washed over me a minute later when I was told there would be tiffin (snacks) in the canteen before the onslaught of the deadly rays.
The tiffin time came and we rushed to the canteen: we had Dal Fry and Poori (Google it, peoples). It was amazing, a nice change from the regular lunch meals. I think I ate 8 pooris and 4 cups of Dal Fry. In the end, our Solar Apocalypse was a great example of another maxim here in India: "just go with the flow, and things will usually work out OK."
Labels: Indian Culture