The idea for The Marriage Clock transpired somewhere in the midst of this realization. After witnessing many of my closest friends find love the arranged way, I couldn’t help but question why it was not happening for me. I had spent several years entrenched in the matchmaking process, ranging from rishtas to arranged dinners without so much as feeling a spark or a flicker, and I wondered if perhaps I was doing something wrong. So, I began keeping a journal that documented details of every “date” I went on in an effort to make sense of the various emotions that arose throughout the process. At first, it was only a way of analyzing my experiences and viewing them from a different perspective; however, it wasn’t long before I started sharing these details with other single friends and discovered that I was not alone in the confusion and frustrations that I felt.

Dating is hard. Finding love is even harder. But the most surprising thing I learned is that the pressure to satisfy cultural and familial expectations is not exclusive to South Asian communities. The challenges of finding love within a traditional framework also exist for those across a wide range of ethnic cultures. And once this became apparent, I began to view my incessant journaling as the beginnings of a universally complicated love story that needed to be written regardless of how my own story panned out.

When I began writing The Marriage Clock, I had no idea how I wanted the story to end. All I knew was that I wanted it to be told from the point of view of a female protagonist who resembled the women I saw around me. Leila Abid does not fit within the stereotypical narrative of a Muslim South Asian American woman. She is outspoken and strong-minded. She is complex and multidimensional: unapologetic in her Americanness, yet simultaneously possessing a sense of pride in her culture and traditions. Seldom in mainstream media do we see women like Leila step into the spotlight. South Asian American women are often seen straddling one of two extremes: they are either too South Asian or too American—rarely do we allow them to simply occupy the space in between. Thus, Leila’s existence in itself redefines what it means to be a Muslim South Asian woman living in the West because her story does not hinge on her willingness to sacrifice any part of her identity, but instead acknowledges and celebrates that she is both South Asian and American, a true conglomeration of Eastern and Western values.

My hope with The Marriage Clock is that it will entertain readers and allow them to see a part of themselves through Leila’s journey. Most importantly, however, I hope that this novel will challenge women to resist the social pressures of marriage and family placed upon them, and step outside of these expectations in order to discover their own definitions of happiness.