A Happy Rishta Outside the Family - Aliya Ansari & Humza Khan

I had always wanted to marry outside my family. When I look back, I am proud of my decision. The reason I supported and still support marrying outside the family is that my siblings have been married to their cousins and it is a mess. Yes, there are some who are going great but for the most part, they are not coping well. The only reason most are quiet is either because of kids or the family bonding and all of the societal reasons. I have talked with most of my cousins and also my brothers and sisters but they showed no positive responses. From that day, I decided to not marry in the family. But finding a Rishta was not easy. People came up with bizarre questions and demands and it was not an easy process to cope with everything. Not to mention the taunting mothers who sometimes became a headache for the entire family. I was just on the verge of giving up and staying single all my life. For some years, I waited patiently for the right man to enter my life and that moment never arrived. In my office, there were a few potential Rishtas I could say “Yes” to but they were from work and I did not want to mix that into my personal life. I am not against it but for me, this was not something I would want to do so I stayed clear-headed to find someone out of the family and definitely out of my workplace. So, I started living my normal life of work, eat, sleep and repeat. A friend of mine from the workplace once shared with me how she met her husband and I was surprised this was possible. She told me of a website where she had uploaded her profile where he found her. For two days, I was thinking about this and a part of me guided me to try it out. What could go wrong, right? So, I made a profile and uploaded it on the website. It went live and I was available to the best man I needed to spend my life with. After two months of answering people of all nature with questions that were sometimes stressful to even answer, I finally found a man who seemed like he was the right fit for me. We talked for some weeks but then he had to go abroad for some business trip. Months passed by but there was no response from him. I was thinking of going live once again on the website but something kept me hopeful. And finally one night, he messaged me, informing me of his arrival. Our talks started once again and this time, he wanted our families to meet. After a mutual arrangement, we all gathered together and now, it has been 2 years. I am happily married and much better than I would have been with any cousin of mine. I am not saying cousin marriage cannot work but the odds are too many to try it out as an experiment. So, thank you Pakistani Rishtey for finding me my dream life partner.