Meals at the camp

Eating at the TRC camp (where we stay in Vellore) is one of the most distinct experiences I've had in India in that I feel like nothing has been changed simply because I am there. We sit on the floor around a cluster of stainless steel pots containing the predictable rice, sambar, rasam and vegetable dish. Our arrangment is not a complete circle, however, as we are often positioned so that we can all face the TV and watch either replays of the day's cricket match or Tamil music videos while we mix our rice and vegetables with our right hands. We mix, we shovel, we burp and we slurp, all in accordance with standard middle-class eating practices here. If it is dinner and we've taken our baths after a long day in the field, the men will wear tank tops and lungis (floor-length pieces of wrap around cloth) and Rajamma will wear her mu-mu nightgown/house coat; I do my best to follow most of the rules of normalcy here but I will not go as far as getting a mu-mu.