In a little over a week, I will leave for India.  My very first trip outside the United States was to India, to attend a college friend's wedding.  That trip taught me a lot about assumptions, about my own ideas of "normal," and about the importance of traveling. 

In the weeks leading to that trip when I told people that I was attending a friend's wedding, I was most commonly asked, "Why is she getting married in India?"  Everyone assumed that any friend of mine must look like me and must be from the U.S., and based on those assumption, a wedding in India was inexplicable to these people.  It always made perfect sense when I explained that Naina was from India.  One question completely amazed me.  It was after I had explained that Naina was from India, and this woman who I had just met (and have happily never seen again) asked, with a horrified look and tone, "Is she having a Christian wedding?"  I was absolutely stunned by the question, and while I know that I replied, "No, she's Hindu," I don't remember how abrupt I might have been with my response.  But that question always lurks at the back of my mind, reminding me of how important it is for each of us to see the world beyond our own lives and beyond our own perspectives.

L to R: myself, Alex, Naina, and Gayatri at Naina's wedding reception.