Exactly, why dont they be as they are and hope to be accepted as is. If they are bent in pleasing the grand lady, why not find an authentic one. Are they taking Indian Mami's for granted?
Dear ozone and sarma-61,
Making changes to adapt oneself in certain circumstances, to my limited knowledge n experience, is far different from changing oneself completely to become someone totally different from the real person he/she is. Every single human on this globe is unique in his/her own way. That too applies to the different races, ethnicities, rituals n cultures all around the world. For this absolute fact, we change our attitudes, gestures, behaviours,... and so on,... toward certain different people from certain different backgrounds surrounding us so as to create harmonious relationships without conflicts...
You certainly know the meaning of the famous saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". It would undoubtedly be...weird if I did the gesture with my parents, I mean, bending down n touching my mum's feet n greeting her "Namaskaaram"!! Yet that's quite a normal way to show respect to elders if I do it when I meet my boyfriend's mother. I hope, now, the picture is clear,... that I certainly don't take my future mother-in-law for granted, and that am NOT at all trying to be a "real, natural, indian or tamilian" though to tell the truth, it would be nice if I could have their breathtakingly beautiful eyes
Years ago, while browsing threads in this forum, I came across a post from a member saying something like this "It's God's will that roses are roses. Orchids are orchids. Roses cannot be orchids nor vice versa! Why messing them up to make a creature neither rose nor orchid against God's will?"... I understood it as an objection towards the idea of inter-racial or inter-caste marriages. Marrying a person from a different race, religion or caste, in my humble idea, doesn't require any of the two parties to neglect his or her own culture and originality. Children, after all, are the symbol of the passionate, sincere and true love of the parents. How and why does somebody think of children born from a happy marriage as a way of giving the ORIGINAL, PURE offspring of one's caste or race? It's merely the offspring of love. I'm sure God also wants human beings to lead a happy, peaceful life filled with love.
The nature and culture lies inside the individual. The children may not look like pure Indians but they can always be Indians at heart. They will speak perfect Tamil, understand n practise all the rituals that what you may call a PURE Tamil Brahmin should do. Simultaneously, they won't forget where their mother came from either.
And there, you won't consider them as half-Brahmin or half-Indian or half-Vietnamese. It's a combination. We don't have to lose one to get another, in THIS case. We gain more while reserving what we already have. It'll be just a pure Indian and a pure Vietnamese being in one complete person.
I hope the response has somewhat answered the questions posed
Thank you again for your sincere and thoughtful opinions towards this.
Best regards,
theblues.