Yeah, but I haven't found myself at that crossroad yet.
Yeah, but you shouldn't even be thinking about it. You should laugh at how utterly ridiculous it is and say "You know what dad, you're completely wrong."
Here's a true story. My cousin-sister was engaged to a Muslim guy back in the 90's. Her father - my uncle was another Indian on the anti-Islam brigade. As you said - it's not uncommon. He was so deadset against it that they broke up under the pressure of it all. And they were a great couple. Deeply in love. He treated her really well. Everybody enjoyed the two of them being together... except for my uncle.
Anyway, she went on to marry an Indian guy and have kids with him. My niece and nephew. Great kids. But he's an asshole and treated her horribly. And it got worse over time. Now they've been divorced for at least a couple of years but all the legal situation is still dragging out. Custody battles. Property/financial battles over their marital home and who contributed what. It's horrible for the kids. They're still young but it's clearly affecting them quite deeply. My cousin-sister basically feels like he's ruined her life.
My uncle chilled out over time. Another of his daughters married a Muslim guy some time later and there was no issue there. I think he regretted causing unhappiness for one of his children.
So my point is obviously this. Fuck what your family think. Fuck outdated "cultural values". It's 2011. That shit should be a thing of the past. But unfortunately the problem with immigration is that immigrants often are frozen in a time bubble of what their culture was like at the time when they left their country. You see it all the time here, people who moved here decades ago but still act like they live in mid 20th century Punjab. It makes no sense. They don't even realize Punjab ain't the same place any more. The people there now have modern, relevant values. I should know, I play gigs there all the time. The last time I was in Chandigarh we played in a nightclub that had paintings of Tupac and Kurt Cobain on the walls. You see inter-caste couples, inter-racial couples, gay couples, lesbians. It's a modern place with modern values and even the older generation there understand this. Not the case here in most immigrant communities. It's a bizarre phenomenon. I guess people were so scared about "losing" their culture that they desperately hung on to every last part of it without evolving to suit the times and habitats.