Author Archive

Why the Gori of Gori Girl?

There’s been some talk in the comments about the word gori, which, given the blog name, is probably a term you’ll hear thrown around here from time to time. So I thought I’d explain what it means, some of the connotations it can carry, and why I chose it for the name of this blog [...]


Indian Wedding Story: Part Two

Part one of this Indian wedding story can be found here.
The wedding ceremony took place in the evening, so Aditya and I were pretty free to do what we’d like the morning of the big day. His family had been planning the event all along - all we did was show up - so if [...]


Who is Affected by your Intercultural Relationship?

Many people subscribe to the idea that your personal life is nobody’s business but your own - as long as you aren’t maiming others, anyways. While I generally agree with the sentiment this idea expresses, I also think it’s important to realize that, like it or not, your actions affect a wide swath of people. [...]


Indian Wedding Story: Part One

I’ve mentioned previously that Aditya and I recently had our Hindu wedding ceremony in India, and I’ve been meaning to write a post or two (or a hundred) about my experiences in India. And then a reader mentioned that she liked the pictures of the wedding that are sprinkled around the GoriGirl site, and would [...]


Meeting the Desi Parents

Few things fill me with as much dread as meeting my partner’s parents.
First off, I’m socially awkward by nature - at least when meeting new people. I never know how to make small talk, or when good eye contact crosses the line into weird staring, or if my posture and facial expressions are saying [...]


I’m Dreaming of FIOS Internet…

So, we still lack internet at the new place, which means the lovely post sitting in Word on my laptop won’t be available to you guys until I can get to campus tomorrow morning. You’d think I’d remember things like this *before* I left for home, but you’d be so wrong. I blame lingering moving [...]


Gori Girl: Now Blogging from the Desi Suburbs

For the sixth year running, Aditya and I have moved our junk to a new home. Yes, you read that right: we’ve moved (together or both individually) every year for the past six years. It’s not that I like moving; it’s just a combination of being a student, having an urge to see the world, [...]


Do the Needful and Learn the Language, Gori!

I can handle Hinglish - the Indian version of Spanglish - without a problem. I’ve got all that slang down. I’m comfortable with about any accent you can throw at me - a neeful thing indeed when your main social interactions are with a bunch of international grad students and professors who are more comfortable [...]


10 Reasons You Should Learn Your Partner’s Native Language

A reader in the comments asked for me to discuss how I’ve dealt with language issues in my intercultural marriage. From my side of things there haven’t been many issues, since Aditya speaks English very well. This has allowed me to be really lax (read: lazy) about learning his native language, Bengali, which I absolutely [...]


Intercultural Families in the New York Times

In case you didn’t catch it, there was a news article today in the New York Times on interracial people, entitled Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race. Since many intercultural marriages end up producing little beings which grow up to have some of the issues discussed in the article, I thought it might [...]