Feb 22- The Neighbors are Fighting

The neighbors are fighting again.  We live about 6 feet from a Brahmin couple.  The evening we moved in, we were talking in the kitchen in our tank tops and shorts.  At some moment, we looked over at the kitchen window just across from ours to see a very tiny old lady watching us.  With a look of distaste, she closed the window.

The next morning they were shouting at each other in Kannada.  I recognized the names of a few foods items and realized they must be fighting about some kitchen related disturbance.  I gathered she was shouting at him to get out of her kitchen.  I began thinking about it, the husband/wife dynamic and the power play that might go on in that Brahmin pairing.  It seems to me, the only place the wife has authority in that situation is in the kitchen.  The husband, in this case, has to acquiesce.  If he doesn’t he will go hungry.  What a beautiful karma.  The man’s very existence dependent upon the state of the woman, and therefore the state of the food.  Although they fight in Kannada and I don’t understand, I can still tell she is coming out on top. 

We know they are Brahmin because the man does lengthy puja several times a day.  The bell is ringing and he is chanting, for quite some time.  It is his duty to keep up the old ways, to please the gods in the ways the Vedas ordained.  He is only allowed to eat food prepared by Brahmins, most likely his wife or the occasional strict Brahmin restaurant. 

We were in the kitchen a few days back, in our housedresses (we bought Indian housedresses so as not to offend anyone while we are in our own house. .. Sheer numbers make it so we don't get as much the luxury of individual mind here in India.  It's group-mind, community spirit.  Or the whole thing will just cease to flow.  Traffic is a great example.  That's another post, though, and so I am sweating indoors in my poly-blend housedress...  We were talking loudly, as Tasia is running the mixy (blender) to make date-coconut pie.  We looked over to see the old lady smiling through her window.  We waved.  The husband appeared over her shoulder with full ash on the forehead after puja, “you make the breakfast?”  They are both smiling and we say yes.

I think they approve of our cooking habits, and also our housedresses, most likely.  It’s good to get along with the neighbors.  We are hoping they invite us for lunch.  We’ll bring the pie.