Indian Food & eating customs

I do love Indian food. There is a new Indian restaurant in Mishawaka, the India Garden, which is across the street from the Bonefish Grill. Great food, plus they have a grocery store in the back. Not food you can find in Martin's Supermarket! At our team meeting last Sunday, we had some fried or baked lentils (we weren't sure which) -- it was quite tasty &, I am guessing, nutritious, since they were lentils. Kind of reminds you taste-wise of potato chips. Training DVD's reviewed some eating customs & warnings:
1) do not drink water from a pitcher, jar or unsealed water bottle. One of the physicians at Goshen Hospital (where I work) who is from India warned me against buying bottles of water from kids at the train stations, as they are not sealed bottles. Also, one should try to drink by pouring the water into your mouth without your lips touching the rim. Try that without getting wet!
2) Chai tea or other hot beverages are usually safe to drink.
3) cooked foods should be safe to eat, but steer clear of salads and fruit without peels.
4) eat only with the right hand. The left hand is used for wiping oneself after using the bathroom, so it is considered quite gross, rude, and/or uncouth to eat with the left hand, to shake someone's hand with the left hand, etc. Thank goodness I am right-handed!
5) the families we will be visiting will feed us well, even if some of their family members go hungry. I don't like this, but that is their culture and not much I can do about it. We also have to eat everything they give us so that we are not considered unmannerly, & we are told they give us alot to eat, especially rice. And we are told that we may be visiting 1-6 families an evening and that we will be fed at all of their homes. I can eat alot, but once I am full, I am full; not sure how I am going to handle that.
6) it is recommended to bring Gas-ex, because the amount/kind of food will make us bloated, and to bring Pepto-Bismol chewables for the potential of diarrhea.
Will be interesting to try the different foods!