u/squibblytoes

Hey all!

I'm unsure if this is the right subreddit for this but I really just want to shout it out loud and proud!

I am an Indian girl who's been living in the Philippines for 15 years. I moved to Manila as an exchange student during my high school years. My dad encouraged me to study in the Philippines because the education there is much better than in my country. While I'd say that my journey and life in the Philippines was all worth it, obviously it came with tough challenges.

As I started high school, I was badly facing a lot of disparaging comments about my nationality, such as being unhygenic, playing with feces, scamming people, having a dark-skin complexion, and worse yet, hearing awful things about my religion (I'm a Hindu) and how it's "demonic".

I used to be extremely depressed that time, but with dad pushing me to still pursue my dreams, all those insecurities disappear. I also meditate whenever those disparaging comments get the best of me, though there we're times I told my dad that I wanna go back to India and never come back to the Philippines because all Filipinos seem to have a very high prejudice against all Indians. Others even accused my dad of "money lending", which is an illegal practice from some of the Sikh community in this country.

So, while those didn't stop me from studying harder, I felt super isolated, like I could not come out of my condo unit just to buy something, because I was being too hypervigilant that a random Filipino will have something to say about me being Indian again.

That anxiety developed until I had to attend a psychotherapist on how to overcome this challenge. So I went to school with all those fear, and the bullying still happened, until there was this tall Filipino guy who finally stood up for me and was cheering me up when I was crying hardly. Since then, I began going with him during lunchtime, and whenever I'm with him, I always feel safe to just be myself!

And whenever I share something about my culture, he tends to be fascinated about it. There are also times I cook Indian food for him every Friday and he absolutely loves how I cook for him.

We've been classmates in the same school since junior year high, and from that moment, I was very intimidated to ask him to be my prom date, but I still did it... and he agreed to be partners. He also asked me to dance with him that time! We we're prom partners during junior and senior high school, until I got very very sad both of us will be studying in different universities.

Fortunately, it wasn't the end of the world as that time, he asked me to be his girlfriend! I was literally shocked that for the first time in my life... I am in a relationship with a Filipino guy. It made me so overjoyed that I was very tempted to introduce him to my dad.

Despite us pursuing college in different universities, we both are still able to make time for each other. We ask each other out on dates and make time to do video calls to ask about academics and life.

I do admit though that there we're times our relationship went rocky, but I do believe that with mutual love and respect, we'll overcome this.

Towards our commencement from college, that was the time I finally moved in with him, and nearly 7 years later... the moment that I consider a milestone in life has already happened... we went to a mountain city called Baguio, and he finally proposed to me!

I couldn't handle my tears of joy that moment and throughout our 13 year relationship... I never really thought that I would be loved as who I am.

So as an Indian with a Filipino boyfriend (now fiancé), I am really thankful to the universe that I met such a wonderful man in my life that will be my husband soon!

That's all.

If you happen to reach the end of this post, I thank you very very much. What inspired me to write this is because of what I've been through and that I finally learned that just because people don't like you, doesn't mean you have to stop being yourself. And I learned it because of my dad, my therapist, and my future hubby all by my side.

NAMASTE! 🤗