In indian society, I probably wouldn't exist... I keep thinking this, each time I hear that people should marry somebody "from same caste, same region, same religion". Here in France, this rule was also right until a few decades. Even if not so clearly expressed, it was how the society was built.

Same caste ? Even if there is no caste in France, you can find some differences from the social environment, which can be very strong... My father was from countryside, from a farmers' family ; my mother grew up in a rich family from a quite big town...

Same region ? In India, it seems that "region" goes with "language"... This is a very rich culture, with more than twenty spoken languages. We don't have this in France. Of course, you can find some people from Brittany or Alsace, who can speak their own regional idiom. But there is only one official language, and all people speak french, at least.

Nevertheless, my parents came from different regions : my father from Burgundy, where there are again some farms cattling cows ; and my mother from a rich suburb of Paris...

Same religion ? In Hinduism as in Christianism, there are different ways to follow religion. Here in France, most of christians are catholics. But few of them are protestants (around 2%). And so were my parents : one catholic, one protestant...

Thus, as you can see, nothing would give them to get together. It was a bit difficult, and in the family we always have some pressure on some subjects... Culture is even different from one family to the other...

But we are there. Me, my sister and brothers are now some kind of a mix... No problem about "caste" or region, as we all moved for our studies and work. But for religion, as we received education from both our parents, we are living our complex faith, just between two communities... Sometimes it's very rich, because we share two different cultures, two ways of thinking ; sometimes it's more difficult, because we are considered nor in one community nor in the other...