My favorite cousin, whom I lovingly called 'Baji,' was the first woman in our family to get a corporate job. Not only was she a competent professional, but also designed and tailored her own clothes and painted wall murals. She was very creative. She was earning well, and her lifestyle was evolving—a woman earning her own money was a rarity back then (around 2006) in Pakistan.

One day, a rishta (an arranged marriage proposal) came…

I was let go of a job that was my identity for thirteen years. I was told my performance was not up to the mark. I was heartbroken, and at a loss for words. My identity had been that of an overachiever. I excelled through school, college, and my job. It was a pride and a burden that I carried for decades…

I was born and raised in Parbat, a hilly district of Nepal by a single mother in a poor family. My world was limited to our mud house. My dad was a womaniser and left home to start another family when I was three years old. My mother was not just left alone to provide for her children but endured oppressive control under the guardianship of her in-laws…

Years of unmet longing to find a suitable life partner had led me to a state of deep hopelessness. In the context of arranged marriage, I felt increasingly devalued by society as I grew older, becoming a less desirable prospect…

Hell broke loose when I decided to separate after two decades of an abusive marriage. I was married to a man who was a neglectful narcissist and a womanizer. I simply did not exist in his world. Silent treatment, no emotional intimacy, and financial control plagued my marriage…

I have been rejected many times; this search process is a brutal transaction. Families visit houses just to have more options for their boys, treating the meeting as 'window shopping' where women become the goods on the shelf and men the customers. They go through countless homes and families before finally picking the one they like the most…