In an almost real life version of When Kiran Met Karen, Rupal Bhatt and Allison Park became two legally married lesbians in Massachusetts in 2006. Both, however, were from New England rather than different ends of the world. Says Rupal, "When I first met Allison...I remember thinking she wasn’t that great." They met again at a friend's party and lo and behold, four years later Rupal and Allison pledged to be partners for life.
Each spouse had different approaches to the marriage ceremony: Rupal wanted a traditional Hindu ceremony whereas Allison, being an atheist, wanted to avoid having any presiding minister or priest. In the end they created a new twist on the marriage ceremony - they changed the seven circles around the fire by alternating laps rather than having the wife only lead the last round, while Allison's mother read passages from the Bible. The alternating laps marked their mutual and equal participation in their marriage. The first six circles are traditionally lead by the male, representing the wife's devotion and obedience to the husband. Traditional straight couples could gain to learn a thing or two about relationships from this Hindu lesbian and atheist mix.
The two were recently featured in India New England, as part of a piece studying four couples.
India New England
3.24.2008
When Rupal Met Allison
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2 comments:
From the article: “When my parents finally met Allison, they had just gotten a divorce, which I think probably affected their perspective on relationships,” she said. Her father said that if Park were Hindu, she’d be of the Brahman caste, which is the highest caste; this showed his acceptance, said Bhatt.
WTF?
at first when i read your comment, i was thinking 'whats the big deal if he says that Brahman is the highest caste?' b/c i had always learned that the order is brahman, ksatriya (sp?), vaishnav, etc..
but then i was talking to my boyfriend abt this and he made a good point: that the article kind of implies that brahmans are better ppl than members of the other castes, and i believe that that is simply not true..
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