The Groom's Still Waiting at The Altar

Unsolicited advice comes quick to us Indians. This Diwali, I met the neighbours by getting sweets for them. One of my neighbours,a housewife asked me the basics and then advised me to get married before it is too late. Whoa! So did my school friend's mother. I know it is kindness that makes them say this, but have they no clue how insulting it can be. It is as if they are implying that you have been unlucky and that your life is meaningful without a man. As if you have committed some crime and as if you are blighted until your parting is red, you have a ring on your ring finger and are wearing a fat mangalsutra around your neck like a yoke.

Its not as if I am opposed to marriage, its just that I'm allergic to the concept of an Indian marriage and I do not want an unfair relationship and my relationships are my business and no one else's. Single women in India have no privacy. Everyone wants to know everything about you and just what your misfortune is, that you are still single, how much you earn, do you not want children, are you barren, do you have some wasting disease, are you grossly overweight? I already tell people that I am single because I find Indian men not nice enough and very judgemental and boring, now I should just scream it from the rooftops. It seems everytime I am social, I have my face slapped hard with unnecessary questions and advice. And then people wonder why I am so asocial!