The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage by Halima Khatun

Author:Halima Khatun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: British chick lit, womens fiction for woc, strong women of colour, strong muslim female, British Bengali
Publisher: Hayat House
Published: 2021-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

3rd October, A common ground

The thing with shy people is, they’re nothing if not agreeable. Despite my concerns about how to ‘dump’ Shy-boy, he totally understood. I wrote and rewrote my text message and ended up with some cobbled line about how I think he’s a really decent person but we might not be the right fit for each other. And guess what? He flipping agreed with me! He thanked me for my honesty, said he understands where I’m coming from and that he felt the same, although he liked me and wished me luck in my search. It was a pain-free separation but I can’t help but think that he would have agreed with whatever I’d said. Meet up again? Sure! Get married tomorrow? What the hell, let’s go for it!

It’s a relief to have avoided any awkward text exchanges with Shy-boy (I HATE confrontation) but I’m also pretty deflated. It would have been nice to at least have been pursued. Even just a little. It’s also a pinch disheartening looking at the current spoils of my hunting. Thus far there’s been a pharmacist that I didn’t get to meet, a rishtaa that seems to have left me hanging and a bunch of online oddballs.

Middle sis keeps telling me you only need to meet that ‘one guy’, so it’s natural to have some bumps in the road before then. But sometimes, I wonder if that guy even exists, as there seem to be more potholes than actual tarmac on this journey I’m on.

It’s also pretty scary to see so many Bengali girls online that are over 30. Yes, I regularly check out the female profiles as well as the male. Partly I want to suss out the competition but I’m also terribly nosey and want to see if anyone I know is also using the website. The fact that women are getting older and remaining single could be due to a number of reasons. They’re either shunning the dead cert of an arranged marriage and are solely on the hunt. Or they could be more focussed on their careers, hence marrying later. Or based on what my current efforts are suggesting – the pickings are slim. The latter worries me.

My email still pings, though not with the initial frequency but this is understandable. It’s Ramadan, the holy month where we fast, focus on good deeds and abstain from any sinning. And while dating to get to know someone for the purposes of marriage is hardly a sin (I didn’t so much as shake hands with Shy-boy) it just feels slightly wrong to hunt during this time. Plus, Ramadan bad breath is terrible, so the last thing you want to do is converse in close quarters with a prospective husband.

I also decide to use this time for contemplation, to clear my head and focus on the positive things in my life. One of which is my work. I’ve recently been promoted, so I’m now a senior PR executive. I also received a whopping 25% pay rise to boot.

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