The mother serves everyone else before she sits down. She will wave away your attempts to help. "I'm not hungry," she says. She is lying. She is starving. But the roti must be hot for the father, and the daughter needs extra dal for her skin.
It might be about the electricity bill: "You left the AC on again, do you think we print money?"
In a joint family of seven, there is one bathroom. The father has a "standing ovation" (a bucket bath) that takes five minutes. The teenage daughter needs forty-five minutes for "getting ready," which involves three hair oils, a straightening iron, and a fight with God over a pimple. The grandfather moves slowly, chanting mantras while the water runs.