What is Hindi for "thank you" again?

Indian hospitality is tireless.
We are fed a huge, delicious breakfast every morning, and when we say "no thank you" to offers of more samosas, more vada, more chapati, it some how ends up on the plate anyway. There is no such thing as "we are full, thank you". If you like the food, then you must want more of it, and if you do not take seconds, it must be too sweet, too spicy, and so they run to the kitchen to offer us another dish.

"No, no, but we are finished! It was wonderful, but there is no more room!!" And thusly our plates are replinished.

Yesterday, Bartley and I debated casually evading mealtimes so as not to give them the obligation to feed us. At the the same time, who can turn down homemade chai (offered to us first thing as we stumble from sleep) ?

Last night, I made a fatal mistake: one of the (many, many) dishes on the table was a fresh salad, something I'm very excited about since uncooked vegetables are not relaible in restaurants. I took some red carrots, onion and tomato, and a long green bean, which I promptly took a huge crunch from. It was not a bean. It was a raw, tiny, magnomiuously hot green chile.

I never knew that spicy food could actually give you tunnel vision.
So in spite of the giggles this incited from the family, they thrust at me yogurt (which I was instructed to sugar), a cookie, a chocolate bar, and a glass of water with all the urgency of putting out a fire. I ate yogurt and chapati til I felt less like a fire-breathing dragon, laughing as tears trickled from my eyes. Of course, Mrs. Sorabh eats these things like candy, and this morning Mr. Sorabh had three on his plate with his samosa breakfast.

So as it, I've been here for about 2.5 days, and only bought two meals (one of which Bartley and I fought Anupam to pay for, and he won. I later found the rupees I had tucked in to the tab in my purse. Sneaky!!). And, I have yet to have spent the $40USD I exchanged at the airport. Do you know how long it takes to spend $40 in New York? Less than an hour, and that's if you stay home.