Blog #123: Chana Masala...?

If you thought the blog posts about chana masala would end upon my departure from India... I must say that you're simply wrong. Nothing, probably ever, will separate me from my one true love- chana.

Tonight was actually one of my favorite since being home. I invited over some of my favorite family friends, the Kings, and cooked a giant Indian meal with the help of Gavin. We made butter chicken, poori, rice, ginger tea, and... you guessed it... chana masala. Would I really be cooking an Indian meal without it?

We sat around the table and talked for a while, and our conversation brought me back to many I've had with Mary Alice, about people asking the right questions. I can't count the number of times I've already been asked "So, how was India?" It is everyone's first question, and yet it is nearly impossible to answer. And, quite honestly, the truth of the matter is probably that the people asking that question don't really care that much. Perhaps they think they do, but if they were genuinely interested, they would ask a better question than that. (Which is what MA and I discussed quite a few times.)

In contrast to this, the Kings asked me specific questions, and engaged in an interesting conversation with me because of it. The perfect starter? "What was your typical day like in India?" It's simple, but it got me talking about a dozen different things. They asked about my classes, my experience with the caste system, my emotional reactions and interpretations, and more. In short, they asked the right questions, and we discussed them over chana. What more could I ask for?