The Other Side: Introduction

Hello everyone! I am a guest blogger here to occasionally offer the other perspective: what it's like to be an Indian female dating a white male. I am a first generation Indian female desperately fighting to carry on Indian culture and traditions. Some may think that dating a white male will prohibit me from carrying on my culture, but I beg to differ. Dating someone who is of a different culture than mine has given me a real chance to let my Indian background shine. I am always thrilled to explain a new holiday to my boyfriend or to cook him a different type of Indian food. Luckily, my boyfriend is extremely interested in my culture, and had that not been the case I don't think we'd be together. A sheer willingness to learn about something new makes an interracial relationship that much more exciting. I hope to offer my side of certain issues and arguments from time to time. Happy reading!

Your Weddings are How Many Days?

In any interracial relationship, I think both people reach an initial point where they step back and realize how different their cultures really are. For me that point came after the first few dates my girlfriend and I had when she described an Indian wedding to me. Being a white Catholic guy from a small Midwestern town, I had absolutely no understanding of what an Indian wedding was like, save for that one backwards episode of Seinfeld.

She explained that each wedding lasts multiple days and includes dances, a slew of rituals, the groom literally riding in on a white horse and a day in which the bride's family spends an entire day serving the groom's side.

Obviously everyone's experience is different, but if you're in an interracial relationship then you're pretty much guaranteed to have that first moment where you step back and say, 'wow we really are different, aren't we?' For a lot of people, this can be an overwhelming and reoccurring experience that I will try to address throughout this blog.

Welcome

I am creating this blog for a class in my Master's degree program. The focus will be on being in an interracial relationship, most specifically a white male and an Indian female. I hope to address all that goes into dating someone with a completely different culture, including holidays, language, family, food, religion and perhaps I might learn something new.

Bonus points if you caught the Journey reference in the blog title.