But at the end of the day, when the city sleeps and the stray dogs howl, there is always a warm chapati kept under a steel dome, a glass of water on the nightstand, and someone breathing in the next room.

The contemporary Indian family story is one of transition. You see it in the "Living Room Dialogue." On one sofa sits a daughter in corporate attire, checking her laptop, while her grandmother sits nearby, stringing jasmine flowers for the evening prayer.

In urban centers, the joint family lunch is fading. But in the gallies (lanes) of Old Delhi, or the agnihotra homes of Kerala, lunch is still a congregation.