My Filipino boyfriend (now fiancé) finally proposed!

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit for this, but I just want to shout it out loud and proud!

I'm an Indian woman who's been living in the Philippines for 15 years. I came to Manila as an exchange student in high school. My dad encouraged me to study in the Philippines because he said the education there is much better than in our country. I'd say my journey and life in the Philippines have been worth it, but of course there were plenty of hard times.

As soon as I started high school, I got a lot of demeaning comments about my nationality — that I was unhygienic, that I played with poop, that I scammed people, that my skin was dark, and worse, awful things about my religion being ‘demonic.’

I was deeply depressed back then, but my dad pushed me to keep chasing my dreams, and those insecurities went away. I also meditated whenever those comments felt like they'd break me. Still, there were times I told my dad I wanted to go back to India and never come back to the Philippines, because it felt like Filipinos all had a strong prejudice against Indians. Some people even accused my dad of ‘money lending,’ the illegal lending business that part of the Sikh community in this country runs.

So while none of that made me study any less hard, I felt incredibly isolated. I got so hypervigilant that some random Filipino would say something about me being Indian again that I couldn't even leave my condo to buy something.

That anxiety grew until I ended up seeing a psychotherapist to work out how to get past it. I went to school carrying all that fear, and the bullying kept happening, until one day a tall Filipino boy finally stood up for me and cheered me up while I was sobbing. From then on I started spending lunchtime with him, and whenever I was with him I always felt safe just being myself!

Whenever I talked about my culture, he was always fascinated. I'd also cook Indian food for him every Friday, and he absolutely loved my cooking.

We were in the same school and the same class from junior year on, and I was so nervous to ask him to be my prom partner, but I did it anyway... and he said yes. He even asked me to dance that night! We were prom partners in both junior and senior high, and I got really, really sad when we ended up going to different universities.

Luckily, that wasn't the end, because that's when he asked me to be his girlfriend! For the first time in my life... I was dating a Filipino guy, and I was literally in shock. I was so happy I was dying to introduce him to my dad.

Even at different universities, we made time for each other. We asked each other out on dates and talked about school and life on video calls.

I'll admit there were times our relationship got rocky, but I believe that with mutual love and respect, we'll get through it.

Around the time we graduated from college, I finally moved in with him, and almost seven years later... the moment I consider a milestone in my life finally came... we went to the mountain city of Baguio, and he finally proposed!

I couldn't hold back my tears of joy in that moment. Through our 13 years together... I honestly never thought I'd be loved for who I am.

So as an Indian with a Filipino boyfriend (now fiancé), I'm truly grateful to the universe for letting me meet such a wonderful man who'll soon be my husband!

That's all.

If you made it to the end of this post, thank you so, so much. I wrote this because of everything I've been through, and because I finally learned that just because people don't like you doesn't mean you have to stop being yourself. And I learned that because my dad, my therapist, and my husband-to-be were always by my side.

NAMASTE! 🤗