: Dinner is rarely a solitary affair. It is the time when the entire family gathers to discuss the day's events.
Between 1 and 3 PM, the house exhales. The younger children nap. The grandmother dozes to a TV serial’s melodramatic dialogue. Priya finally eats—not the elaborate meal she cooked for the family, but the leftovers, eaten standing up, because a mother’s hunger is always secondary. This is also the hour of secrets: a whispered phone call to a sister about a troubled marriage, a quick online bill payment, a stolen chapter of a romance novel hidden inside the recipe book.
