At this year's Kumbh Mela, a triennial gathering of tens of millions of Hindus, Lifebuoy seared its hand-washing slogan into unleavened rotis, the pilgrims' staple.Empire gave brands "the ability to get global quickly", notes Robert Opie, a consumer historian whose collection forms the basis of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising.
There's a stereotypical image of a very poor person in India subsisting on a couple of rotis, a pinch of salt, and some raw onions for flavour.
(Actually the stereotype of really dire poverty is that meal, minus even the onions—"two dry rotis with a pinch of salt" is the North Indian shorthand for being in really dire straits).
I took the four-hour Little India trail through Bur Dubai, with stops at street stalls plying freshly barbecued chicken tikka, spicy potato bhondas, tandoori rotis and sugarcane juice.
There are two grilled coconut rotis and that pennywort relish, which is just divine, with a slick of sweet tamarind sauce to stir in.
The night we arrived with my sister, they killed a chicken and we had a great feast with rotis and rice — all the luxuries even the rich could dream of.
There is solid food: sandwiches, salads and rotis that are satisfying without being particularly noteworthy.
But we were also very Indian in that both of them cooked traditional Indian food every day – they even made fresh rotis!
Raju, 10, sells pens on the street Income: 3,000 rupees (about $54) a month Breakfast: Tea in the morning Lunch: Two rotis and kidney bean curry Dinner: Three rotis and a potato and spinach How has food consumption changed in last few years?
Brijkishore, 45, auto rickshaw driver Income: 10,000 rupees (about $180) a month Breakfast: Nothing Lunch: Three rotis and ridge gourd Dinner: red lentils, curry and rice Daily: One glass of milk How has food consumption and expenditure changed in recent years?
Nonetheless, soon after we moved to America, I quickly did all I could to shun my roots, including refusing to eat the daal and rotis I once relished and rejecting the Hindi I regularly spoke.
