While Western families eat different meals, Indian families eat as a unit, but not necessarily at the same time . The mother eats last. She serves everyone else, watches them take the second helping, then sits down with the broken roti and the leftover vegetable.

A busy living room. Laptops, textbooks, TV remote, and a plate of samosas all on the same coffee table.

The afternoon heat in India is a great equalizer. The city slows down. The maid comes to sweep the floors (another quintessential part of the Indian middle-class lifestyle—the bai or domestic help is part of the family ecosystem).