What Is It Like To Be A Second Generation Indian?

As the first one out of my husband's siblings to get married, we had a lot of things to figure out. My husband is a second generation East Indian. If you're a little confused on the first, second generation thing, it just means his parents immigrated to the US and he was born here. He was actually born very soon after his parents moved to the US. He has spent time in India, where his family was born, throughout his life. He lived there for a few years as a child and has also spent summers there. As a second generation Indian, he has had to figure out how to make sure Indian culture is very present in his own life. Luckily, his family has made that very possible for him. His parents grew up in India so they raised their children in Indian culture, while in the US.His parent's first language was Telugu so it was always spoken around the house. All three of them understand it and can speak some. My husband can speak it the best. This is probably because it was his first language as well. When he was little, he lived with his grandparents in India for two years. While there Ummama (grandma) and Thathya (grandpa) taught him how to speak Telugu. After he moved back to the US, he quickly learned English and began to speak that more than Telugu. I think his experience in India, as a child, helped him to hold on to the language. With such a large extended family, my husband attended many Indian weddings growing up. If you can ever crash an Indian wedding, DO IT. They are always beautiful and extravagant. Check out my pinterest board if you curious to see what some of them look like.Indian weddings are also much different than American weddings. They last much longer and have many more ceremonies before and during the wedding. My husband was able to learn and take part in many Indian wedding customs. I'm pretty sure the main reason he went growing up was for the massive party afterwards. The receptions are always a huge party. It was the time to dance to amazing Bollywood music and have the time of his life with all of his cousins.As my husband and his siblings grew, his family was able to bring in American customs and traditions as well. It was all brand new for them. They were able to experiment and try out new traditions in there own house as well as observe how their friend's families worked. One of my favorite things my husband has shared with me is how much he loves holidays with my family. Christmas and Thanksgiving have always been huge holidays for my family. We have so many traditions from Christmas eve pajamas to Christmas Eve soup. He told me he loves to take part in the traditions my family has had for years. Being a second generation Indian has created some interesting challenges for our relationship. When I came into the family, my husband had to teach me about an entirely new culture. I had never been to India and knew little about Indian culture. He knew all about Indian culture as it affected him. However, he learned about so much when we got engaged. It would have been very nice if we knew exactly what to do, but that's far from the truth. In reality, we figured it out by doing many things wrong. I called his mother by her first name, I used the wrong hand while eating, we attempted to hold hands in front of his family prior to being engaged, then of course getting married and having an Indian/American wedding. There are so many rich customs and traditions in Indian culture. My husband and I love being able to bring those into our own family. The one thing I didn't expect was for my husband to be learning with me. He had seen so many traditions and customs growing up. He took part in many of them, but he was able to understand them in a completely different way when we were together. He no longer attended a ceremony or took part in a tradition just because he always had. Now he had a fiancé to explain everything to. He learned the why behind them. Now, we have three handsome boys that we are teaching all of these things to. Our oldest son is constantly asking questions about the customs and traditions he sees. "Why do I have to call my aunt Utha?""What hand is the right hand to eat with?""Why is everyone trying to feed me?"He has asked so many great questions that have taught us a lot. The great thing about my husband being a second generation Indian is that he can teach us all of the things he has learned about his culture from growing up and learn new things with us. Are you married to a first or second generation ______? If so where are they or their family from?