0830 Breakfast

You’re not supposed to eat or bathe in the 30 minutes after yoga, so I use this time to dress and wait at the canteen for breakfast (as long as action is greater than intent, this does not count as eating!). Breakfast (“thindi”) is most varied meal of day, since lunch and dinner (both called “uta”) always consist of palia and chappati followed by rice and sambar. I look forward to seeing what the kitchen will turn out. Once breakfast has been served, we sit on the porch with our savory coconut and saffron rice, or cous-cous with raisins and peanuts, or spicy rice pudding and tamarind sauce, and read the Mysore Deacon Herald.

The local paper offers a set of eyes through which to build some local perspective, and I enjoy this leisurely and informative start to the day. The Deacon covers mostly Karnataka state affairs with some national and sparse international news, except for a considerable amount of paper devoted to Michael Jackson’s recent death. Other big news has been the late monsoon rains, which threatened to bring down agriculture and power supply across the state. (Thankfully, as of July 9^th, the rains have come and returned water levels to normal!). Some notable news stories from the past couple of weeks are:

• Early July: The Minister of Energy does not plan to buy power, and has confidence in the rain gods to provide monsoon rains soon. Citizens are not required to pray for rain, but they may do so (with implicit encouragement from the government). Recently, a wedding of frogs—FROGS!—was conducted as a gift to the gods. Hundreds attended.
• A woman is accused of her husband’s suicide. My interpretation: sexism is more suspect than the woman.
• The national court has ruled that gay sex is not a crime. Related to this, many reports on street celebrations and touching personal stories have been published.
• There is mounting Hindu/Muslim tension in the historically non-violent city of Mysore. It all began over a week ago when a decapitated pig carcass was left at an abandoned Muslim holy site, leading to three deaths. Subsequent riots killed three or four more. The protests are sporadic and unpredictable, so it’s not clear when it will end—but the last week in Mysore has been relatively peaceful, and we didn’t have any problems when we were there last Thursday.
• On World Population Day, longer hours of electricity and better late-night television were promoted as population control measures. They must have some really good soap operas and reality TV shows, if those are to prevent young couples from having sex!

A food-centric society will make itself so known through its cuisine and conversation, and this part of Karnataka certainly does. Throughout the morning hours, you can hear people greeting each other with “Thindi aita?”, meaning “Have you had breakfast?” This is just as good as any salutation, except better. First, as a foreigner, it can win you points for “doing as the Romans”. Second, for anyone, it shows that you have the same priorities as everyone else. Concerns about and pleasures from food are some of the most basic human experiences—a natural bond—as well as a great measure of one’s well-being. Therefore, if you can only learn one phrase in Kannada, I suggest learning “Thindi aita?”* It packs the most power for the punch…or, please accept, the most local flavor for the bite.

*”Uta aita?” works equally well for lunch and dinner.