Tag Archive | "Hinduism"

Friday Connections 27-11-09

Friday, November 27, 2009

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Friday Connections: a time when I give links and a bit of commentary to things I'd blog about if I had the time. This week the categories are mixed families, cross-cultural food, and gender inequality issues in India (with a really sweet video).

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An Office Diwali Celebration

Monday, October 19, 2009

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Ah, Diwali. Fesitval of lights. A celebration of good triumphing over evil. A time to bemuse your boss and win free dessert from your local Indian buffet. Right? As I've mentioned previously, I happen to work in a very diverse office - and with a recent switch in teams, I now report to a South Indian manager. He's a great boss, but, occasionally, well, I can't help myself - I'll mention a Hindu tradition or a Bollywood film just to see his reaction. You see, despite the fact that he knows I'm married to an Indian, he's always so surprised when I show any knowledge of Indian culture. Shocked, almost. So, of course, to celebrate Diwali this year I decided to wear a sari to work.

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Indian Wedding Story, Part Six

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

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This is Part Six of a continuing series on my Indian wedding adventure. If you’re new to Gori Girl, try checking out Part One, where the story starts. After we started the fire (think Agni Pradipan, not Billy Joel), I fed Aditya some pre-made Laddu, which is a common Indian sweet used in pujas and other ceremonies. After this Aditya stood up and promised to provide for me for the rest of my life, so, really, I didn't begrudge him the sweet. (Also: it was way too hot to do much but sweat beside that fire. Doesn't look like it? Read on.)

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From Atheist to Hindu? Religion and My Intercultural Marriage

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

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Me? Oh, well, I don't have a faith. And, no, I'm not interested in getting one either. That was my polite non-answer when asked about my religious beliefs by two Christians who stopped by Aditya's and my doorstop to proselytize last weekend. And it was as true, as far as it goes - I'm not one much for simple faith in any context. When discussing my religious beliefs with friends & family, I'm most likely to to describe myself simply as an atheist. But when I'm feeling a little mischievous - or argumentative - I'll sometimes put in that I'm an atheist - and a Hindu. Yeah, it's a bit of a complicated situation; I blame Aditya for it completely. Like many other things in my life, religion is something that has become more complicated since we set off on our intercultural marriage adventure.

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Indian Wedding Story, Part Five

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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This is Part Five of a continuing series on my Indian wedding adventure. If you’re new to Gori Girl, try checking out Part One, where the story starts. When I left off on the story of my Arya Samaj wedding to Aditya (see part four here), we had just exchanged garlands at the start of our wedding ceremony. Heavy, massive garlands that took my original concept of flower necklaces - Hawaiin leis - and kicked it up a notch or ten.

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Cultural & Religious Differences: Understanding, Accepting, Embracing

Friday, February 13, 2009

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Today I'd like to discuss three good ways of dealing with differing cultural and religious traditions - understanding them, accepting them, or embracing them - and why it's perfectly okay to not embrace - or even accept - any tradition you find difficult or troubling, as long as that works for your particular relationship.

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Like a Wheel in Motion: My Second Indian Wedding

Monday, August 25, 2008

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NeoKalypso, my wonderful guest contributer, tells of her experiences at a friend's wedding. After a wonderful summer full of jungle hikes, tasty SE Asia food, and plenty of other adventures with R, I was blessed to top it all off in the most perfect way with my friend CT’s weddingYep, that’s right, our very own CaliforniaTransplant and I are friends in real life. After sharing so many similar perspectives on intercultural relationships we decided we had to meet. Our friendship blossomed and I volunteered to help her in any way I could on the day of her Gujurati Indian wedding ceremony. She took me up on it, sent me about a two page “script” and I was ready to help! From there…magic unfolded. The gods graced us with their presence…

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My Dainty Swastikas

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

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Someone gave me a pair of swastikas as a wedding gift. They were quite beautiful: delicate, pure gold swastika earrings, with subtle etchings along the front and edges. I wish I had taken a picture of them – and of my husband’s face when he opened the gift. I still don’t know who the giver was, but I suspect it was an older Auntie with superb taste and very few NRI relatives.

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