The image is not a sketch, it is a long photograph that is an ode to a frequent occurrence everywhere in the globe. It is an ode to pleasantries, to felicitations and the promise of the passage of family lines and ancestry. It is an ode to how for a significant part, we're a planet of 8 billion people. An ode to how we are tied along cultural lines and an acknowledgement of our traditions.
In her case, she is a newly minted doctor and must have only recently completed some five or six-year study period. She has a calm outlook and she is the type that is more quiet type. As expected, she must have been receiving suggestions of getting a partner during and as she inched towards the end of her medical study. These suggestions can emerge from everywhere and anywhere. From family, close friends, extroverted or daring acquaintances. For instance, whilst on a bubbly and giggly phone conversation in some random room in the Blackfriars Hall of residence at her university, you'll hear a flat mate say "Olivia, is that our husband?".
In this context, 'our husband' means her husband and because she is yet to get married, it would mean her fiancée or some partner of a romantic significance. Because she's being teased, she'll jokingly shrug off the question of her inquisitive roommate as she says "I am quite occupied at this time Freya", with a face lit up with smiles and more enthralled by the phone conversation. As a result of being engrossed, she will not admit to her enquiring flat mate that the giggly phone conversation is with her fiancée or a partner of some romantic significance.
Meanwhile, such a question would take a more serious turn when she gets asked by an older adult. The situation may be intense or casual, it'll depend on the demeanor of the older adult and other variables including if the older adult is Olivia’s Mum. If Olivia is aging rapidly, if Olivia has been known to have an history of uninterest in romantic partners, et alia.
When Olivia gets asked with intensity by an older adult, there's no dismissing the question easily. She may feel embarrassed and there may be more than one older, questioning adult. Should they all be women, it'll be more intense. They may be aunties, older female cousins, and women from a sorority that Olivia's Mum belonged in her younger years.
They may be women that have known Olivia through the decades and have played a role similar to a mother's through Olivia’s development. After all, it takes a village to raise a daughter in such a culture and it is not uncommon to have a number of mothers. They may be older women with daughters possessing ages similar to Olivia’s. These daughters may be securing romantic partners and tying the knot already with such elegance.
Should these women team up with Olivia's Mum to question Olivia about getting a fiancée, they'll take a stance that may appear overly dramatic. You'll find one such woman moving around excitedly with arms raised in the air in energetically and she describes the fulfillment she felt when her daughter got married. Amidst lobes of smiles, you'll hear say
"I became the proudest mum in Langley when my daughter introduced her fiancée to the family. I became happier and my joy grew further as I prepared for my daughter’s wedding together with my entire friends and associates in the county.”
She’ll then take a pause and walk towards Olivia as she says “Olivia, you'll do yourself so much honor and raise the pride of your mum high in the league of women in our county when you bring home a partner.”
Now entreatingly “Sweet daughter of my lovely friend, please do not delay. Bring that handsome young man home and fast. Your mum anticipates cute grandkids"
Facing Olivia, another woman would say "Sweetheart, I have known you from your very early moments in elementary school when you were in the same class with my daughter Isla. You two were fond of each other as you played together and sat together on the school bus. Just as you know, she gave birth to the cutest twins last year and I recently paid them a visit in Quebec last month."
She’ll then take a more stern stance as questions: "Olivia, do you intend to say you're yet to get a suitable suitor from the many young men that ask you out? When will you face this squarely?"
But all of these are in the bygone and it wouldn't matter how Olivia eventually got a partner. Who cares? Who would want to know if she tried out thirteen different men before she finally secured the one that'll wife her?
# # #
In the sketch, the lady is young and perhaps, falls into the younger age of ladies who go to marry in her culture. She is an interesting mix of things. She is ode to her culture and all the somewhat contemporary line of strong women who have kept the tradition of fairly modern homes.
In these fairly modern homes, you'll have a husband, you'll revere him. You'll place him at a pedestal where he drives the direction of the home for the most part but not without you; the quieter decision maker and indispensable stakeholder. You’ll fill your statutory spot as a stakeholder but you do beyond this. You act out your role by being a co-home financier.
If you're like Olivia, you may be white-collared, you may be in a space where younger women desire to be early career professionals. You will be bearing the weight of your home an your profession and won't be in a gap where you can get hit by the misogyny that hits overly dependent young women that are not empowered.
You’ll become a young woman with a voice that cannot be subjected to belittling vices. You'll become a spear piercing through thick and foggy wools of agelong homes placed in societies that demean women.
You’ll become a star.