The smell of summer rain and fresh tandoori barbeque delights filled the air as I rang the doorbell. I couldn’t help but feel a familiar bout of anticipation. The same kind of evenings I used to run from when I was a teenager because they would be so mind-numbingly boring.
Half-half is an identity Anya and her mother Mita have created for themselves amidst a world of sticky labels and even stickier social rules. Contrary to the fear that children of cross-cultural couples will lose a part of their parents’ culture, Anya is an example of the opposite.
Once rare, but now increasingly common, is the phenomenon of Desi girls dating non-South Asians. There are an increasing number of girls, like myself, who have crossed their parents and dated someone who on face value was not an ideal match.
Rimi Kochar says it like it is. She raised two daughters in Indonesia, the younger of whom has been ‘romantically connected’ with an Australian man for four years. She is Indian by origin, but bound by no borders.
South Asian parents tend to agree that teenagers should not be dating—especially girls. Sure they’re allowed to have friends that are boys, but no ‘boyfriends’. But what do the teenagers think? We share snippets of their conversation, and let parents take a peak.