I just found an article called “Indian-Inspired Wedding Cakes”. It was pretty cool and I never really thought to incorporate my background and my fiance’s background into our wedding cake. It’s something I’m considering now. The post was by a person who has married a Kannadiga, and it’s my first time finding a blog by someone else posting about Kannada/Karnataka related things who is residing in North America. It excites me.

I’ve noticed that over the past few months there has been an increase in the number of parenting blogs I read. What’s up with that? I’ve never been fond of kids and I’ve never really had much desire to have my own (other than assuming I would because that is what society expects me to do). More recently in my relationship with my fiance I have been responding to people’s comments about our future children by stating that we don’t have any intention to procreate. Most people are taken aback when they hear this – I figure because a lot of people still hold the notion that marriage is only a union for procreating and cannot simply be a life-long companionship. I’m not against having children but it bothers me that people assume that I will have kids. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but I still think I am way too young to be thinking about that now. And why are people so concerned with other people’s lives anyway? If you like kids then have your own. Anyway, I wonder if this has influenced my increased readership to these blogs. Or perhaps I am slowly starting to like kids? I’m not sure, but I know that the thought of having children makes me want to puke.

My fiance and I just started to plan our wedding and by “just started” I mean that we just started yesterday. I started going through some bridal magazines that my mom’s co-worker gave me and aside from my constant gagging at the Disney fairytale bullshit that is plastered throughout this waste of paper, it had ads to sites including a bridal show. So I decided to go online and see if there are any upcoming shows that I can attend to help me get through this horrid planning that we have to undergo. Can you tell that I’m not a fan of wedding planning? So I came across a site that listed past and upcoming bridal shows in the Toronto area. Great! One thing that makes me life more easier. So I looked through the list and found a link to the Kismet Bridal Show which exhibits vendors for South Asian weddings. Perfect! Or so I thought. Under their articles section they had an articled called South Asian Religions and Tradtions. They had a pretty extensive collection of sections, which I was pleased to see. What I was not too thrilled about was their Christian section. At first I was excited that they had included Christianity in their article since I’ve noticed that most people generally ignore Christianity or Christians in and from India. My excitement was washed away though by the stereotypical depiction of a Christian wedding as a white, European wedding. Maybe I’m just not worldly enough, but I seriously doubt that Indian Christians incorporate a horseshoe into their wedding ceremonies. I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it.

I’m disappointed (yet again) at the level of ignorance by people who are supposed to be educating and informing non-South Asians and non-Indians about the diversity among South Asians. Why are Christians, once again, ignored and assumed to only be of European descent? There are so many Christian traditions that are non-European and non-North American. Why must non-European descent Christians continue to be pushed to the sidelines and have their cultures, traditions and heritage ignored not only by the mainstream Christian community in the West but also by institutions that are supposed to be unbiased and public sources of information? Are these forms of Christianity not seen as good enough or accurate? That is definitely how it makes me feel. Now I cannot speak for all non-European descent Christians, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m not the only one that gets a little peeved at the level of ignorance in supposedly educated, liberal, progressive communities.