Looking forward to connecting more in the coming year.

Within a few months of officially dating I told my parents I was serious about Shreemati and that I loved her very much. In fact my sister and mother both talked to Shreemati during this time. I felt the communication needed to be open and I needed to be up front with everybody. I needed Shreemati to know that I was for real and that I’d be willing to deal with the consequences. I needed my parents to start imagining this future and start dealing with it sooner rather than later.

As things progressed, Shreemati and I eventually visited Nepal.  It was an official introduction trip. She met everybody and everybody met her. It was a great time, however, later that year we broke up. We still had some issues to work out.  Things were not as smooth as we had thought. I didn’t tell my parents of this breakup. I didn’t feel it was necessary for them to know right away, but I was planning to tell them if it became “permanent”. I really felt like things would work itself out and we’d be back together again. I also figured that news of this breakup would affect their support later.

I bring  this up because I am reading about a lot of relationships where the guy hasn’t told his parents and the years are just ticking by. I know everyone’s situation is different. But I will say this, there does come a point where a man has to be a man and talk to the parents like a man and face the consequences. Its pretty plain and simple.

Dragging it out and just kicking the can doesn’t help in the long term. If you love her and you’re worked out all your issues (and you’re already living with her), then its time to deal with the consequences.  I don’t think its fair to the woman or to yourself to keep dragging.  Afterall its not like you just woke up one day and realized there would be consequences. You knew there would be consequence for  becoming involved with  a Western woman for the day you left South Asia.

One of my mangers gave me a book called “Eat That Frog”. It is a self hep book that provides tips on how to better manage your time and get things done.  The idea being that you do the most uncomfortable task first thing in the morning. That way you can enjoy the rest of the day doing the stuff you like to do. Similarly, once you’ve been dating for a year and you’re serious its time to eat the frog, tell the parents and enjoy the relationship.

I know it’s not easy. Believe me. I’ve been through it. But let me tell you this, even the most hard core parents will eventually bless your union once the grand-kids arrive.  South Asian parents (regardless of how traditional) will melt their hearts out when they see your offspring. So, it’s only bad for a few years!

Since D is a Muslim and S is from with a Christian tradition (can’t remember exactly), I was interested to see how their ceremony would be handled. From knowing D I know he is pretty much a non-practicing Muslim. He appreciates the traditions but he’s not going to the Haaj anytime soon. I don’t know much about S’s religion again from what I can tell she’s not a tithing member of any congregation.  So, both are very nominal in their faiths.

The ceremony was held in a meeting center and religious artifacts of either religion was absent. The chairs were lined up neatly with flowers along the aisle. There was a podium with some colors, a canvas and behind it was an arch made of some green branches and leaves. Nothing terribly religious or sacred in the traditional sense. For the most part it was a secular affair. There was profession of commitment, honor, respect and love, and only a few references to a generic God.

I don’t know what kind of wedding they had in Pakistan, but I would assume (based on the pictures that were on display), that it was a fairly religious ceremony. I have never been to a Muslim wedding, so I am making a huge assumption. I know that the Hindu ceremony is a religious ceremony and there is no way around it. I’m assuming Muslim weddings are religious and there is no way around it. Perhaps because of this they chose a secular setting for their US wedding – I don’t know.

I walked away from this secular wedding wondering about wedding ceremonies in general. Not marriage but just the ceremony and the role God should play. Obviously they can have any type of wedding they want and I’m not here criticizing that at all (so please do not take this blog post to mean that at all).

I’ve always held the view that weddings are religious events. It is a commitment you make in the presence of God himself and you set out to keep this commitment with God’s help and grace. When this aspect is removed from a public ceremony I just feel that a large part of something important is missing.

Now you’re probably wondering what kind of wedding we had. I’ll tell you one of these days. But for now I want to hear your thoughts on secular weddings.

In terms of world views it appears the women in these relationships tend to be white and very liberal in their world view. Liberal defined both politically and socially. They have a very post-modern view of the world and are open minded. In face they place a high value on being open minded. I’ve read of some who are even “secret Muslims” – in a fun and cute kind of way.

In terms of family dynamics this white liberal woman is very assertive and opinionated  - whether this is expressed openly or passively. Many seem to have tension with their new mother-in-laws or soon to be mother-in-laws. Some are very argumentative  in their approach to their relationships and even to the new culture that they are about to be so integrated with. Somehow their man is above all this stuff but his culture is certainly something that cannot be tolerated or needs to be changed.

In many cases I see many couples as being overly naive in their assessment of what it takes to make an inter-cultural relationship with South Asians succeed.  It’s one thing to be in love in your 20s with an exotic man from a far away place, but its quite another to stick it through for 60+ years.  While I am no expert in this, I do think some sober thinking is needed – because the practical and the mundane become reality at some point and once the “love-bubble” fades you have to make choices.

I bring all this up because the South Asian culture is inherently conservative. It is religiously and socially conservative. Family is supreme. Relationships are king and social norms are extremely rigid.  Family dealings are long term and require much work. In-laws are really not in-laws, they’re in-your-face.  Family expectations from cousins-thrice-removed are real.  Communication is very different – more passive aggressive than direct for the most part. Ideas are diametrically different – of course the daughter-in-law needs to serve tea and so on and so forth.

One day every inter-cultural relationship needs to deal with this – not in a theoretical love will carry us through kind of manner – but in a practical kind of way.  Then there are children and their upbringing – and interaction between their grandparents (on both sides).

What I’m saying is not that these relationships will not succeed (I’m in one and have a personal stake in its success) but rather, the liberated post-modern liberal white woman will need to realize the extent to which her liberation, her post-modernism and her liberalism will be challenged by a culture and tradition older than most civilizations on earth. I have seen many walk away because their ultra-feminist ideals were more important than family peace and harmony.

Overcoming this is a tall order.  It can only be conquered when you recognize how tall the order is and ensuring that you have a worldview strong enough to carry you through.

For instance, both Hindu and Jewish traditions marry a bride and groom under a structure. In Judaism it’s called a chuppah, and in Hinduism it’s termed a mandap. Kavi and David Moltz married under a chuppah made from birch wood that was adorned with silk and fabric from both sets of grandparents. “Both Jews and Hindus get married under something,” David says. “It represents your first house.” One tradition that is common to the Jewish, Hindu and Greek Orthodox religions is the breaking of something at the end of the ceremony. Jewish couples break a glass with their feet, while Greeks drink a glass of wine and throw the glass. Hindus break a pot. Another common symbol that transcends various traditions is the exchanging of something during the ceremony. Indians exchange garlands, Jews and Christians exchange rings and Buddhists exchange white scarves. Finding commonality between traditions can make a ceremony meaningful, but make sure to have someone explain the symbolism to the wedding guests, or most will be in the dark, says Macomb. Also, she advises intercultural weddings can seem more cohesive if an officiant and readers incorporate some native languages into the ceremony as a nod to family members who have traveled from another part of the world.

It’s a great read, hope you enjoy it as well.

Then Thuli turned five! It’s hard to imagine that the little 6 lbs 7.5 ounc 21 incher is now already five and getting ready for kindergarten this Fall. We had a sleep over for her friends and that was hectic for me and my wife – but very enjoyable at the same time.

Finally as May turned to June we celebrated Kanchi’s first birthday! She’s crawling everyone and is become ever ready to walk. Keeping everyone around the house on their toes as she gets into everything.

With all these birthday parties Maili has been practising singing “happy birthday” to herself. Her’s isn’t for a while – thank goodness!

So, now we have somewhat of a breather. That should free up sometime for this blog. Looking forward to it very much.

“In rural Bihar, information on sex selection is not easily accessible. Also, the poor cannot afford to pay for the ultrasound or the termination of pregnancy,” he says.

Ms Sinha says the problem of female foeticide is seen more in the middle class and affluent families and urban areas which have access to technology.

“In cities what we see is a daughter who is 16 and then a son who is six – so what happened in between?”

Yes, it’s the rich and affluent who are doing it more than the poor. The RICH AND EDUCATED!  This just makes me very upset. I would have thought with some poverty programs and education that we could defeat this thing, but when the rich and educated and doing it, then we have a larger problem.

Just plain evil!

My mother struggled with this (as did my dad). In Nepal and I’m sure throughout South Asia children sleep with their parents for many years. I’m certainly no stranger to that idea and when Shreemati made plans to get the crib ready at around 11-12 weeks (we had her in a bassinet in our room until then) I was a little taken aback. However, when it’s just the two of you and not a house full of relatives raising children you need to be efficient. So, I understood what we were doing.

My parents never turned this into an argument or anything like that, but many questions did arise. My mom openly questioned whether the child was getting enough love or not. But to anyone who has been around my girls, that is a silly question with a very obvious answer. However, after a few weeks my mom started to observe that children here are very independent and are taught to do things on their own from an early age.  She started to see that perhaps our way of doing things is most definitely not the only way of doing things.

When they were here last summer my mother was again taken aback. They were surprised to see how much Maili (middle one then 17 months old) could do on her own. Maili ate on her own, was already pooping on the potty and was close to being out of diapers. Not that this is necessarily an American thing, but my mom was again surprised by how much kids can be trained to do things. I guess the bottom line is she always thought kids needed to be babied well into years 7 and 8. Something very common in South Asia. Well we have certainly shown that is not the case. And we still love our children very much.

Photo used under creative commons license Flickr account ID foliman

So the reason  I get a bit sensitive about this is  because my father-in-law and his brother are very handy and can fix things around the house. They know a lot about tools and techniques and can eye-ball things and get things done around the house. When they come to visit they normally get a few things done around the house for me and end up being a huge help in so many ways. I appreciate that but also feel a bit inadequate at times.

My wife’s uncle for instance has pretty much been the one who set up all the storage units in my garage, put in new light/fan fixtures in one of my daughters room, trim the trees, keep the bushes and stuff trim etc. In fact I make a list of stuff for him and when he visits we do it “together”. My father in law is like that as well and has been responsible for helping with appliances and maintaining stuff in hard to reach places.

This is not to say I have no skills. I am certainly capable of learning. The first house Shreemati and I bought together needed quite a bit of work. It wasn’t a fixer upper per se, but it needed some upgrades. So we thought. Once the work began we realized it was a lot more. In fact, the first four months were spent fixing things up. It didn’t help that we bought in late Fall and being in the midwest at the time, things got pretty cold while major work was still being completed. We ended up having to sleep in the basement near the furnace while working on the floors upstairs (stories for another day).

This experience proved to be very valuable (we did get our money back when we sold for those interested in knowing.)  I had some hired help during this time, but to save money did a lot of the work myself. So, I learned to put dry wall, fix the flashing in the chimney, put in the garbage disposal, pain, peel off wallpaper, dig holes to fix leaks in the foundation, install bathroom fans, install a toilet and the list goes on.

So, over the years I’ve learned quite a bit, but I can’t say I enjoy it. But at the same time I want to really learn and be good at it. Sometimes I wonder how other Nepali guys (South Asian guys too) deal with this. Do their American/Western wives have expectations that their man will fix things when they break. Is this expected? I’m  curious to hear about this and learn to what extent this is a cultural thing and not a personal thing. This is interesting to me considering how manual labor is looked down on in South Asia.