Watching #indianmatchmaker this weekend made me realise that I& #39;ve learned a lot more about my culture by marrying outside my race.

I& #39;ve had to provide explanations on the things we do (badly I might add) and in doing so I questioned my own understanding and belief system.
My parents were never very active in the religious community and preferred the stance of a more personal relationship with spirituality. To that end, I never attended any religious classes or got involved in the weekly prayers at the temple on our road.
I was raised by a village with differences in manner of faith, caste and skin colour. As my mom was working full time, I spent hours after school in different houses - Gujurati, Hindi, Tamil, Telegu - I had no idea that there was any difference in Indian culture/caste system
As I went to high school, I became more aware of the (in my mind) bullshit differences between castes and culture. I did not understand why some people would say "Oh she& #39;s a Singh" like that meant I had some untenable magic in me. I don& #39;t. I wish.
In Uni I met a cutey and we dated for 5 years. My mother pressured us into marrying because I was heading to 23, we were together for so long, and apparently I needed to be taken care of. He caved and proposed, I accepted and knew it was a mistake.
To be honest, I was KAK terrified of his traditional Tamil mom as I knew that I wouldn& #39;t be able to fulfill the duties that a first daughter-in-law would perform. I wanted to break all the rules and live together before we got married. This didn& #39;t fly. We ended it.
So then I made the bold decision to date a white guy. I was on the outside anyway -fuckit.

My mom voiced her concern to her bestie (also white) around the significant cultural differences we would have to overcome. She lost that friendship for 10 years.
I& #39;ve been with said white guy for 12 years now.

In the beginning, I suppressed anything about my culture. I needed to run away from it.

Suddenly I became an adult and I started to appreciate my heritage, I saw it with a new perspective.
When you have to explain in minutia the things you& #39;ve witnessed and take for granted, it is such a sweet journey to discovery.

Why do we drop water so many times? I don& #39;t know. I do know that my husband now goes to weddings with whiskey in his boot.
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