Chicken Dinner

Over the past two weeks, the five of us have all begun to slowly grow accustomed to the lifestyles and habits of the families whom with we are now living. While this transition has caused us all to make numerous small changes to our daily routines, one of the biggest challenges for me has been adjusting to my new diet. Though the food at my house is delicious, it is quite different from what I am used to at home as it lacks the variety and meat (Yes this is going to be another Yak about meat, but I can’t help it, it seems that every time people eat meat in India there is a good story behind it) to which I have become accustomed. Thus, when my home-stay brother, and fellow omnivore, Saurabh asked me if I was interested in making chicken one night, I readily agreed.
A few days later, on the day that had been deemed “Chicken Day,” Andrew, who was also craving the addition of meat to his diet, and I quickly biked home from Hindi eager to devour the meal. We entered my house and after introductions and chai, hurried to the kitchen expecting to see Saurabh cooking the chicken. Instead, we found a deserted kitchen completely devoid of chicken, or any other food for that matter. Surprised and worried, we asked Saurabh where the food was. In answer to our question he gestured upstairs and told us to put on our sandals.
After putting on our shoes, we followed him outside, around my building, and into an apartment in the back. Once inside we removed our shoes, said a quick “Namaste” to the man sitting on the bed inside the apartment and then followed Saurabh upstairs. Climbing the stairs we entered a small hallway, which contained, five of Saurabh’s friends, a propane tank, on which sat a makeshift stove, a pot filled with water and spices and a plate covered with raw chicken.
Andrew and I sat on a yoga mat on the floor and began to converse with the men around us, quickly learning that we were cooking and eating in such a bizarre location because no one in the building would allow meat to be cooked in their kitchen. As we waited for the food to cook, we enjoyed a snack of soda and Kurkure (Indian style Cheetos), continued the conversation learning, to our great excitement, that what we had joined in on was actually a regular event, and slowly observed how one makes a chicken curry without a kitchen. For a while, aside from the fact that everyone was speaking Hindi, it almost began to seem like we were back in America tailgating before some unknown sports event. Then the power went out and the fans and lights went off, quickly bringing me back to our Indian reality. The lack of electricity, however, was no big deal because it didn’t affect how we were cooking, so for a while we sat in the dark room talking and snacking by the flickering blue light of the gas fire.
Eventually, we left the dark hallway and moved out onto the roof, which was semi-illuminated by a combination of the moon and the light from the street below. When the food was finally done, we moved all of our supplies out onto the roof and began to distribute the food. Each person received a large helping of rice, a couple chapatis, a couple pieces of chicken and a hard-boiled egg, which had been tossed into the curry along with the meat. We then began to devour the meal, which was incredibly rich and delicious and left me feeling fuller than I had in weeks.
After the meal we thanked Saurabh profusely and offered our help in organizing next week’s meal. We then went downstairs and I headed off to my room, exhausted from the day, but quite happy with the new tradition that we had established.