Red Love

Interrogation

I turned 18 not long ago and any Asian knows, specifically those from South Asia, that as soon as a female turns 18 marriage becomes a hot topic of conversation. It's as if all the Aunties lay in wait, getting together all their wedding jokes and literally fling them all at you as soon as you hit "that" age.

"Oh, Kaseema, not long now till you get married eh?"

"Shall we find you a nice Asian man with a nice big beard, Kaseema dear?"

And so on.

They'd say all this whilst nudging me with their elbows and making stupid gestures towards my mum. Eventually they'd all burst into fits of high pitched laughter after getting bored of waiting for my response. They always expected a response. A typical giggle and a shying away movement, just like all the other girls did when put under the same interrogation but i never did. I would sit there, straight faced, teeth grit, fist clenched and my mind would just wander elsewhere. I'd relax my stance after a while but only when i started thinking about him... about Michael.

Michael Palmer. My man. Everything the ladies would say to me, i'd distort and imagine being with Michael. I'd imagine our wedding, our children... like some fan girl conjuring up fantasies over her favourite celebrity. A smile would paint my face, quickly slapped off by my harsh reality - it would probably never happen.

How could it? How could we possibly be together? He was a mere few shades darker than me, his hair was slightly different to mine, his features were those that belonged to his people. To me, those were nothing. I saw no difference between us. We were the same, both Allah's creations. We were both made of clay. We were both human beings. Unfortunately to everyone else, they would see him as being from another planet.

My family are traditional people. By traditional i mean lowkey racist and only like to keep "love" within the community. You may only marry someone who is from the same country as you, shares the same language and the same traditions. Diversity and interracial marriages are totally out of the question. They are never mentioned or considered.

It's totally hypocritical considering we all follow Islam, that came to abolish racism and Allah said to us that it is an act of the ignorant... but there it was. My dilemma, plain as day, despite how much the world had moved on since my parent's generation, despite how many youths had rebelled and married someone of a different race, despite my faith and what it preaches, despite everything, i know my parents would never agree to "Kaseema and Michael."

Even if he reverted into my Faith, they still wouldn't accept him.

How sad.

A/N
Allah - God (in Arabic)
Reverted - the act of accepting Islam as one's belief.