Being an Indian woman in South Africa is like being a rope in a tug-of-war between the eastern and western world – there’s my parents who are trying so hard to hold on to their Indian culture and raise me as an Indian woman and then there’s my friends, society and the media basically telling me that everything my culture stands for is old-fashioned. Who do I believe?

My parents trying to raise me ‘the Indian way’ wouldn’t be such a bad thing except I think they’ve completely forgotten that we live in SOUTH AFRICA and not in India – if we lived in India they way they are raising us wouldn’t even be a topic of discussion because we wouldn’t know any different but, living in South Africa where we are exposed to people of all races and religions it’s natural that we feel cheated when we are not allowed to do most of things that our friends do. Indian parents don’t impose many rules on their children but, they are two rules that are absolutely NON-NEGOTIABLE:

• NO dating
• NO premarital sex under ANY circumstances – if you did choose to have premarital sex not only would you be an outcast in the community but, you will also have been the cause of the ruination of your family’s good name

I am beginning to realize that I belong somewhere between the eastern and western worlds and as for the question: Who do I believe? Well I’m choosing to believe nobody and have decided to go out and find what is true for me.