They all went down after freshing up neatly to eat their dinner. The massive dining room buzzed with life, filled with the warm, golden glow of old brass lamps hanging from the high ceiling. All three brothers pulled out their wooden chairs and sat down, while the girls and the elders settled around the vast, heavy dining table that stretched across the room.

The table was loaded completely with big bowls of steaming rice, spicy country chicken curry, bright green gongura pachadi, crisp vadiyalu, and sweet, dripping semiya payasam.