2. It would be highly difficult for Meena's family to accept her relationship with Demetrius due to the fact that Diaspora communities are highly inclusive, and fairly exclusive as well. Viewers of Mississippi Misala need to remember how self-contained the community in which Meena lived in, that functioned out of the Monte Cristo hotel, actually was. As Demetrius himself acknowledged at one point, most Indian motels cleaned their own carpets. Meena did not permit him to walk her home the night he dropped her off following their first meeting at the club because he was an outsider, and would have been perceived as one and not allowed to become intimate with the 'insiders' who lived within the Diaspora community as a result.

Another reason why it would be difficult for Meena's family to accept her relationship with Demetrius is due to the largely incestuous (although this term is not being used in its literal, sexual sense) relationship among displaced people. Because groups of a certain Diaspora have in fact been removed from their indigenous environment, they typically do as much as possible to cling to their native traditions. This fact can be evidenced by the attempts of the holding of the traditional Indian wedding in Mississippi Masala, in which prayers were still said in a foreign...

However, due to the fact that communities of a certain Diaspora are inherently small (particularly when compared to that of their new surroundings), there is a natural proclivity towards gossip and jealousy, particularly in regards to certain "assets," such as men.
This fact can be demonstrated by the coveting of Harry Patel, the guy who Meena went out with when she went to the club where she eventually met Demetrius at. There were several competing families who wanted their daughters to date (and possibly marry) Patel instead of Meena. This example from the movie demonstrates that the natural tendency for families in the setting of a particular Diaspora is to intermingle (and when possible, to intermarry) so that they can stay isolated from the surrounding possible as much as possible, in order to preserve their culture.

Therefore, in regards to Meena, her family wanted her to date within her own Diaspora so as to preserve her culture, as well as to stave off the foreign influence of the surrounding, American that Demetrius represented. The exclusive nature of such communities, as well as their innate tendencies for figurative incestuous relationships made it difficult for Meena's parents to accept her dating anyone outside of her immediate, indigenous environment.