Australian marrying an indian (hindu)?

Question

My partner is not religious at all and neither am I, we are having a baby together due in 5 months and his dad has become really strict on his culture but totally degrades mine and white people in general.

Me and my partner do not want our child having anything to do with religion until she is old enough to decide for herself what she believes in but his dad has other ideas.

Are there any things I should know about hindu culture and what the parents have a say in?

Answer 1

Indian parents have a say and hand in everything...EVERYTHING....

Until told to back off by a strong and assertive personality. it's all about setting boundaries, people will interfere as much as they can until told what they can and cannot do....

Answer 2

Hey Deejay, first of all congrats for having selected an Indian to marry. Indians as you might know are very rich in their culture and mostly are very religious. Yes as you said they are quite hesitant to have inter caste or inter racial marriages for that case. Hindus mostly are vegetarians and have very spiritual feelings with things like Marriage, having children, husband, wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister or brother-in-laws etc. they quite value their relationships and have a heirarchy based on ages which means elderly people decide many things for their family members. But then now people have become quite open to modern day ideas and some families accept such outside relations better. So it is for your partner to convince his parents about your perception about the relations and family in a whole. You can call them up yourself and talk about what you feel. But then if they insist on them wanting to give the child a Hindu identity and culture, its wise for you to accept it in case you see this relation as a life time one. Hope this answers you. Good luck!!

Answer 3

if you n your partner are firm about it just dont back out.

as parents it is your right to give any values you deem to think is right to your kid.

in the hindu culture parents do seem to have a say in all the decisons taken by the children but since if your partners parents did not have one when u 2 got hitched up so why now they are posing a problem.

by the way hindu culture does not demand a girl to become a man's servant rather it proclaims her to be his better half.

it's just ppl like ur inlaws who distort facts .

no religion teaches to treat ppl inhumanly,though in india girls do face a tough time.

times are changing now and i think you and your partner should try to make his father see your point of view and try to solve the problem amiacably.

if that does'nt work dont let them brow beat you as you have a responsiblity towards your child too to give her a decent childhood.  

Answer 4

The problem most inter marriages have boils down to compromising and accepting each other's culture.  That is why many race do not want their children to inter marry.  In your case, i think u have to let your husband decide on this one.  because it is impt for him and his family and religion, and knowing that asian cultures are focused on "face value" , and "manhood" The child will decide later if he/she is a grown up..

Rememebr, this is just a fraction of a prob u and ur husband will encounter. more to come, so pls learn to compromise if there is no matter of life and death in the offing.

Answer 5

If you and your partner are not at all religious, I can't understand how your father-in-law wants his grandchild to be. It just seems stupid to expect two non-religious people to be okay with raising their daughter in a strict religious environment. Seems like you are going to have to lay down to him that it is YOUR child and you will raise her according to your own wishes. If his granddaughter wants to be a slave to a Hindu man when she grows up, then that's her choice. Until then, he should just be a loving grandfather to his granddaughter. Remind him that that he is her GRANDfather not her FATHER.

Good luck.