Internship Blog: Luke West, Post #3

Atithi Devo Bhav

 

I’ve been in India for officially one week and all that I can say is, I’m tired of eating.  No, I’m not tired of eating Indian food. I’m tired of eating. In general. It is almost all that I’ve been doing over these past seven days and I’m getting sick of it. 
Before I came, I figured being in India for two months would be a great opportunity for me to drop some lbs, kilos, and work on that beach bod when I get back. Yeah, right. Not that I thought for a second I would ever go hungry, but I figured I would be eating unfamiliar things in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and so on.  From the second I landed until now, food has been always and everywhere in between.

“Atithi Devo Bhav,” or Sanskrit for ‘The guest is equivalent to God’ (I looked this up, I know no Sanskrit or any of the 4-5 languages most people here speak). This basically means that you not only offer, but feed your guest as much as possible, even if they politely refuse. Especially if they politely refuse.  The question of “Are you hungry?” is solely rhetorical.  And, of course, it is very rude not to eat if someone puts a plate down in front of you. I believe that is the same in all cultures.

My hosts, Varghese and Reeba, are wonderful people in every way possible. Not only do they run this organization on their own, they do so from their home as well. They are my hosts, and excellent at that.  Excellent, also, at preparing three meals a day, plus snacks in between. So what this means for me is that I’m eating (take notes mom) full meals of breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Back home I barely put together two. When I was in college, I was lucky to get past one.

Sure, it seemed fine at first. Someone preparing for me three meals a day? Hell yeah.  But when it is day after day, three unrefusable meals, even if you’ve recently eaten? Hell no. Fortunately, it is not anywhere else in India right now, where the temperature has been well above 100 and thousands of people dying from heatstroke and dehydration.  But it is still hot, with the temperature floating around the 90 mark.  Being hot and sweaty, the last thing you want is to eat a filling meal. Well, at least for me. These people love it.

Food is the national pastime in India and important both socially and culturally. Especially here in Bangalore, where the IT industry has brought people from all over India together and food can be a way of remembering home. A rather universal idea. In fact, tomorrow we’re putting on a children’s cooking show to inform some kids the importance of cooking, working together, expressing yourself and that cooking can be for boys too (traditionally women cook for the men and many parents don’t want their boys in the kitchen). And most of what I’ve had is wonderful.  Dosas, rice biryani, chicken kabab, fried rice, so many kinds of rice, yogurt and cucumber salad (like a tzaztiki and one of my favorites, probably because it is light and refreshing), all sorts of breads, pancakes, waffles, ice cream, chips, chutney, curry, sambra, fresh guava, jackfruit, sapodilla, lasse, tea, coffee and more kabab. Everything is new and fresh and tasteful. And I’ve only had a taste of what this place has to offer.

We always hear in America that we are fat and overweight.  Which we are, oh, god, we are. But if you’re not dirt poor in India, you are not far behind.  Everyone that I’ve been around here has a belly. Most of the food is carbs or oily and there are restaurants everywhere when a full three meals at home cannot be prepared.  I don’t have many complaints so far here (I had an upset stomach one night). So, I’m going to complain about eating too much. I guess it could be a lot worse. But so much for that beach bod.

Also, I like to eat my food and not take pictures of it so I don’t have many pics that would make this post look more… appetizing. Above is me eating corn flakes with warm milk because that’s the way it comes before you open it. Actually the worst thing I’ve had so far. Oh, and I was, of course, forced to eat an actual breakfast soon afterwards.