After thinking about this quite a bit, I've realized that the extra water is just to take care of evaporation, and most rice will cook at a 1:1 ratio with water

After thinking about this quite a bit, I've realized that the extra water is just to take care of evaporation, and most rice will cook at a 1:1 ratio with water. Basmati rice doesn't. But Indian people don't use basmati rice for daily cooking.