Capgemini sent us to India so that Bill could create a Hyderabad based research and analysis group for the company. Bill is in charge of 30+ people who are typically in their mid to late 20s. They're young, getting married (typically arranged), having kids, buying apartments and cars. For all of these life events there are carefully scheduled ceremonies to celebrate. To shed even more good fortune on these events, the boss gets invited too.
Thursday night we went to a Housewarming party. There was a dinner first (buffet style) and there was a Puja afterwards. A Puja is a prayer ceremony done to bless (in this case) the home, and is done before sleeping there. If you're interested in more details, here's a link: http://www.indiaparenting.com/home-and-decor/59_828/hindu-house-warming-ceremonygriha-pravesh.html
Last night's dinner was scheduled to start at 7pm last night. We wisely left the house at 7:10pm and arrived at about 7:45. Apart from family, we were the first ones there. Bill and I were greeted by our host, who introduced us to his wife and his father. We were not introduced to his mother or any of the 5 older ladies there. Odd. I did the small talk with his wife explaining why the girls didn't come (umm...your event starts at their bedtime and goes until 10pm AND they have school tomorrow). Then I moved on to the next round of small talk with the father, when he strongly encouraged me to "Eat. EAT". Sigh.
As a side note, Bill and I are doing great with our New Year's Resolutions and are eating very "low-carb" at the moment. South Indian food does not give many low-carb choices: rice is a staple here. By staple I mean that on a buffet there will be multiple rice dishes. This buffet was vegetarian, so I made the best choices I could: "salad" (which is really slices of cucumber, carrot, and tomato), mixed vegetables (cooked in oil and spices), and Dal Makhani. Makhani is the Hindi word for "buttery", and Dal Makhani is full of butter and cream...not found on many approved diets, but hey, I was hungry (I didn't have time to eat before leaving home).
I took my small helpings and proceeded to eat, and proclaim how good everything was (which was true) to Wife & Father. I had finished my dal when Father came over again...he insisted that I have more. Without waiting for me to politely decline, he,( himself, Father of the host, most senior man there) went over to the buffet, grabbed the serving spoon, filled it up with dal, grabbed a napkin to hold under it and walked across the room to serve ME! That was a first. I can't imagine the look on my face watching him walk toward me with a big spoon full of dal. I must have looked something like this:
As a side note, Bill and I are doing great with our New Year's Resolutions and are eating very "low-carb" at the moment. South Indian food does not give many low-carb choices: rice is a staple here. By staple I mean that on a buffet there will be multiple rice dishes. This buffet was vegetarian, so I made the best choices I could: "salad" (which is really slices of cucumber, carrot, and tomato), mixed vegetables (cooked in oil and spices), and Dal Makhani. Makhani is the Hindi word for "buttery", and Dal Makhani is full of butter and cream...not found on many approved diets, but hey, I was hungry (I didn't have time to eat before leaving home).
I took my small helpings and proceeded to eat, and proclaim how good everything was (which was true) to Wife & Father. I had finished my dal when Father came over again...he insisted that I have more. Without waiting for me to politely decline, he,( himself, Father of the host, most senior man there) went over to the buffet, grabbed the serving spoon, filled it up with dal, grabbed a napkin to hold under it and walked across the room to serve ME! That was a first. I can't imagine the look on my face watching him walk toward me with a big spoon full of dal. I must have looked something like this:
Once finished, the wife took my plate, not one of the servers (whose sole job was to take empty plates). Wow, talk about uncomfortable. I apparently have very high status: the Boss's Wife!
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