A Shot in the Arm

Masala Papa and I are going to India in a few weeks--my first time and his first in 25 years. We went to the doctor's the other day for vaccinations, which is kind of a joke considering I traveled all over Asia 15 years ago and never once checked my Hep A records or swallowed any anti-malarial pills. But I digress. We're in the exam room with the nurse and, in between shooting us up with big needles, she asks us how we met. Now maybe I'm being overly sensitive, and maybe this was just her attempt at making small talk, but if we were both white or both Indian or both whatever, would she have asked us that? Is it so odd to see two people of different races bump into each other and fall in love? I should have told her it was an arranged marriage.

what's in a name

Ok, so about the name of this blog, masala family. In Hindi, masala means a hodgepodge or mix, usually of spices but not necessarily. It seemed the perfect description of my family since a) I'm Caucasian, b) my husband is Indian and c) our future baby will be Chinese. And, our dog, well, he's a mutt. By this time next year, we will be a tricultural family, a mini United Nations security council, a living example of Thomas Friedman's theory that the world is indeed flat.