The House of Fathepore

By Sofiya Bryant

As a teenage girl, author Sofiya Bryant faced challenging times, and she chronicled those events in The House of Fathepore. Based on Bryants diary entries, this memoir captures her coming-of-age experience as a teenage Indian-American girl and tells how her American upbringing and lifestyle choices clashed with her parents traditional Indian cultural views.

In this narrative, she recalls how the problem began when her parents prepared for her next rite of passage: marriage. She discusses how she couldnt understand how her parents could choose a life partner for her when they didnt know her wishes. Her fate was sealed when her parents took her with them on an international flight to their ancestral village in India. Bryant shares she didnt want to marry a stranger as tradition dictated. In the end, both parents and daughter are transformed as they reconsider their ties to tradition.

Offering a glimpse through the life experience of Sofiya Bryant, The House of Fathepore addresses the coming of age experience of a multicultural household.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475930528

Sofiya Bryant

This is author S. Bryant's first book. She is currently working on the sequel to this book. She has earned a B.A. degree in Sociology with a minor in Women Studies and an M.A. in Education. Bryant lives in Florida and likes to spend time with her family when she is not writing.

Book preview

Part I

Culture Clash: Fathepore

1. Going against Tradition

Rrrring! Rrrring! Rrrring!

Hello?

Hi, Melanie! I called my friend in a high-pitched and fast-paced voice.

Hi, Gurriya! What’s up? said Melanie, my best friend since fifth grade.

I had to call you because I am so nervous about our guests tonight! I said.

Nervous? asked Melanie in a calm and reserved voice. Who’s coming? she asked quizzically.

Well, it’s a guy I go to school with, and he said he lives with his aunt and uncle. His parents live back home. I’m not sure what my parents are going to say to the marriage proposal from our guests.

I can’t believe you are getting a proposal. Who is he, and how did it happen? Melanie asked.

Well, he knows me through friends, and I don’t know how it happened. You know, it’s okay in our culture for a proposal. But it’s not okay that I actually invited them to meet my parents.

So, what if your parents don’t like what you did?

Well, we live in America. They can’t get too angry with me. I’ve lived here most of my life. My last memory of India was when I was three years old, I said.

Listen, Gurriya, I know your older brother had an arranged marriage. Don’t you think your parents want to do the same for you?

Well, yes, they tried. The guy they picked for me to marry came to America from India. He came to visit us and then secretly boarded a plane to Mexico with a one-way ticket one day before our engagement ceremony. Our family never heard from him again. Oh! Look at the time! They were supposed to be here by now. I tried to reach for the door of my bedroom to peek outside my room, but the telephone cord was too short.

Okay, tell me how everything went later, Melanie suggested.

Okay, bye! I said as I hung up the telephone.

I walked over to my mother, who was busy in the kitchen stirring a pot of fried onions on the stove. I stood close to her and asked, When are our guests coming?

What guests? she asked without looking at me.

You know, the ones for the… proposal? I said hesitantly.

We told them over the phone that we’re not interested, my mother said. How could you think it would be okay to invite a boy over to our house for your hand in marriage? my mother inquired in disbelief.

Well, your way didn’t work, so I wanted to try arranged marriage my way. I stomped my foot as I said that.

That moment changed my life forever. I told my parents that I would not be getting married that way—the traditional arranged marriage way. So now I had to face the consequences of my naïve action. Simply talking to them about marriage was an act of defiance. I didn’t think of that when I spoke out of frustration like a pressure cooker steaming at full blast.

***

It was Thursday, the day of my last midterm exam at Orange County High School in Orlando, Florida. I had completed the test for my Algebra I class. I was six months away from eleventh grade. The exam marked the transition to the last quarter of the school year. It was an early-release day. School was dismissed at eleven thirty in the morning. I walked home as I had every day for all my fifteen years. But the walk that day seemed like an eternity. I knew big trouble was ahead.

When I finally got home, I found my best friend, Melanie, waiting for me. I had told her of the unfortunate outcome. My parents didn’t even allow them to visit us. They ended the conversation over the phone. I didn’t think about the consequences of a rejected proposal. My parents panicked and planned to take me back home for my brazen attitude toward marriage. I felt confident that I was not going with them. I wanted normalcy for myself and my parents, so I carried on as if their plan to take me back home was no big