Down the hall, 72-year-old Grandpa Shastri sits on his wooden aasan in the balcony. He ignores the chaos. His eyes are closed, reciting a Sanskrit shloka. A crow lands on the railing. In South India, this is a sign that ancestors are visiting. Grandpa opens one eye, breaks a piece of the leftover idli from his plate, and offers it to the bird. “Good morning, Appa,” he whispers to the sky.

From 12 PM to 3 PM, the house belongs to the women and the ghosts of leftovers.

Meera cleans the rice grains stuck to the floor. She calls the maid to discuss the price of tomatoes. She scrolls through WhatsApp forwards: a joke about a Sardar, a fake health alert, and a cousin’s engagement photo from Delhi. She replies to all three with a single “Ok 👍.”

By 8:00 AM, the house explodes.