Awkward but

"So.. Doing anything tonight for Valentines?"

I asked my colleage before leaving work. She is one of the new faces at work and we don't get to talk very often. But from her voice and her smile, she seems super friendly.

"Well I'm on a long distance relationship so.." she said, "I'll spend time with my parents..."

Then we talked and talked about spending time with loved ones and how weird it was to be joining two friends who are a couple etc.

"So where is he?" I asked.

She seemed a little confused. Then she smiled.

"Ohh, it's a girl"

I paused to feel the awkwardness between us.

I didn't see THAT coming! I was surprised and reconfirmed that it was her partner that we're talking about here.

For a second I wasn't sure whether she was the odd one because she is a homosexual (I hope this is a polite word for it?); or was I the odd one to have been surprised by such a booming trend in our society.

It's really hard to make a judgement in today's free and diverse society. I know for sure that it is wrong if I prefer the same gender. But I can't simply say she's wrong. Can I?

If it is who she is, it is what she's decided for herself, what business do I have to change her? And what harm would she ever cause me?

God knows best.

Indian

So this morning I heard the news on the radio. Woman assaulted in Sale by some man. The man was said to have an "Indian look".

That sounded odd to me.

Often you'd hear people's looks decribed as "Asian", or "Caucasian", or "Middle-Eastern" but hardly a specific country name is mentioned.

First I thought, are they even allowed to mention such thing in the news? I mean, people from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Sri Lanka somewhat look alike. What if the man is not an Indian, yet the whole nation was made infamous? This is only the "looks" that we're talking about.

Then I wondered, is it because Indian population is so big that it's safe to assume that somebody who "looks Indian" actually comes from that nation?

But then again, nothing beats the good old Chinese massive population right? I'm pretty sure the news would still say something like: " The man with Asian looks".

So what is it about an "Indian look"?