By 7:30 AM, the family disperses, only to reconnect via technology. The peaks during the school drop-off. Indian school gates are social clubs. Parents compare notes on tutors, cricket coaching, and the dreaded "syllabus completion."

Between 9 AM and 5 PM, the house is quiet. The elders nap. The maid sweeps the floors. This is the window for saas-bahu (mother-in-law/daughter-in-law) serials on television, or in progressive homes, the grandmother learning how to video call her grandson in Chicago.