India, Oct. 8 -- There's nothing quite like biting into a hot, crispy aloo tikki at a bustling street corner-the spice hits, the chutney sings, and for a moment, all is right with the world. Unless, of course, you're a woman doing it alone.
Somewhere between the sizzle of the tava and the chime of steel plates, Indian women eating alone in public morph into something of a spectacle. A solo woman hunched over her plate-neither guarded by a man nor giggling with girlfriends-seems to elicit more reactions than the food itself. People stare as if the tikki is just a decoy, and the real item on the table is a question: "Why is she alone?"
In urban India, this performance is subtle but unmistakable. In semi-urban settings, it's almost theatric...