Jodoh (Where Are You?)
Jane Austen’s 1813 classic Pride and Prejudice begins with its famous first line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” But what about me? A 26-year-old woman with no prospects, not possessing standard beauty, no (read: limited) prior experience in romantic relationships, still doing my degree, with not much savings, no stable job, no steady income, and technically, from both a feminist and capitalist perspective, not much to offer? Growing up, I never thought I would feel this pressured to get married. I imagined myself as one of those strong women who could defy peer pressure, cultural expectations, and the invisible auntie council that somehow always knows who is single, who is taken, and who is “next.” But apparently, when friends and cousins begin getting married one by one (or at least start entering serious relationships), I am not as formidable as I once expected myself to be. Every year, on my b...
