Dear Ma'am, I have been in a relationship since the last 4 years with a person 8 years older to me.
We're of different caste plus I'm still in my career building phase and I can't even think of taking it to the next level.
Also, since last few months the relationship has been a pain in my neck, it has been damaging my inner peace and equilibrium.
He leaves and then comes back, each time I'm firm that I won't resume it but I do love him more than anything else so we get back together.
In this entire process, I feel too exhausted now and the damage feels beyond repair. He's 31 already and his parents are forcing him for marriage now.
Considering the impracticable situations, I know he has already given up on us but continues to be around for the emotional comfort he gets from me.
He doesn't understand that it's damaging me, I can't run around in circles.
He thinks let's continue it till we can, but what after that? He'll suddenly tell me he's getting married and what then? What would I do with all the anger and dissent within? Everyone around me keeps telling me to leave him because of all these reasons. Also, I'm in my early 20s and I have an entire life in front of me, I want to build my career.
Also, I don't feel the need to see someone else just as a relapse or desperate situation, I'm a very conserved person that way. But I do need to break this toxic cycle and regain the control over my life. I want to grow and prosper, but this entire myriad of emotions drags me down..
Please tell me what to do? Thanking you in anticipation.

Hi Anu,I m 32 yr old girl and been married in arrange marriage with a guy he is also 32 it's been one year.He is very harsh to talk to and I get usually very hurt because of his words. I always feel like walking out of this marriage for peace. He is very unromantic and ungrateful. On top of this our views on marriage, togetherness and sex are very different. I never had sex with him till now. And I don't feel like having sex with him. There are many fights between us. The way his mother and father talk I feel stuck in my life.There is no progress in career because constantly we are under tensions. My past relationships were very nice and sweet so I always happened to compare him with my ex in my mind. I don't know what happens to me. When he comes close to me I stop talking breaths. We just cuddle each other and hug but other things like kiss and sex I don't feel to have. Please guide me as soon as possible.

Hi, I’m a 27 year old independent woman who’s living in Bangalore. I’m financially in a good position now. Also, I’ve met a guy 3 years ago and fell for him but he’s not very emotionally connected with me and sometimes acts as a narcissist and doesn’t treat me with respect. I’ve tried communicating with him about how I feel after such actions. He acknowledged and limited such behaviour to some extent. I really love him and spoke about marriage too. He brushes it off and diverts the topic that he’s not ready. I don't see any clear signs of this relationship, even his parents are looking for matches to get him married. He doesn't accept anyone either. My parents are in a different city and they want me to shift with them to look for alliances who can marry me. Recently, they’ve shared a profile and I spoke just for the sake of parents. After speaking to him for 3 and a half hours during the first conversation, I realised that he was a better compatible partner for me. I'm not sure which path to pursue. My marriage is not fixed yet as my decision is still pending. Kindly help me with the best advice.

Hi I am 29 year old F dating a 27 year old M. I have always been very conservative and emotional with respect to love. Before him, i never dated anyone, nor allowed anyone to touch me because I wanted only one man in my life. We both have failed to crack a gov job. He has lost all hopes in life and somehow wants to fix his career. On the other hand, My family is pressurising me to get married and even I think that I have reached that stage where I should get married in a year or two. Meanwhile his parents too wants him to get married by next year. However, he refuses to give me any commitment unless he has a stable career i.e government job. And if he failed to do so, then he will marry any girl whom his parents choses because without a gov job, he won't be able to take a stand for me. I his mind he thinks that my family is of high standards than his. (which is partially true) I want some form of commitment from him, but all he says that he wants to marry me, and wants me to stay with him as friend untill he is ready. He has also not given me the tag of a gf, he says that because of that tag I will be emotionally attached to him and if things didnt worked out than I will be devastated. He had also not made any sexual advances towards me. He asked for 6 months to fix everything. However, this undefined relationship without a commitment is emotionally exhausting me. Because of my family pressure, I am in delema whether I should look for someone else or believe someone who has not yet defined anything? I dont want to look for anyone else becase than it is against my personal ideology of being with only one man. Yet, I am scared. What if I ended up being with no one. What should I do?

It is really difficult to explain what I am going through and my words might not completely bring that out but a piece of advice/perception might be really helpful. I am 30 years old. I have a long term boyfriend(started dating in 2012). He was the world to me till almost 2020. He was my family, my everything. I too meant the world to him. We treated each other like "I am his and he is mine". Such was the commitment and care. We never thought we could even think of marrying some one else. We are in long distance since 2017. Used to meet once in every 2 months sort of. In 2021, I met some one else and started going out with him as we were in the same city just casually believing that nothing serious has to happen between us and that I "obviously" will marry my long term boyfriend undoubtedly. But things drastically changed. I developed strong feelings for this person and met more frequently. I went with the flow despite having immense guilt that things will eventually get very complicated and all the three of us will be hurt. But I never gathered the courage to break ties with this new person as the bonding was very maturely strong between us. Nor I could break ties with my long term boyfriend as he still was "my family" and he was the only one I resorted to whenever I needed someone. The new guy belongs to a caste my family will never agree and because of this I persuaded the marriage talks with my family for my long term boyfriend. My family agreed and my marriage date is scheduled in end of November 2024. But I everyday am in dilemma as to whether should I marry my long term boyfriend as scheduled or should I take a bold step of breaking it and going for the guy I met in 2021. I told my mother about the situation but she said my father will never agree for this new guy's caste and that its too late and I should marry as scheduled. I am not able to take a decision and going with the flow and probably will get married with this dual thought and uncertainty. I have thought a lot about this, about how my life will be with both of them, but its very difficult for me to break things with my long term boyfriend even though I have no romantic feelings for him from the past 3 years. There is 0 intimacy, neither emotional nor physical. But I do care for him. I do want him in my life, whether as a husband or otherwise. I feel the way he takes care of me and thinks about me, no one else will. But the thing is I don't actually "feel" for him anything, nor do I miss him as much, we don't talk the way we used to , there's a detachment. We are in long distance and are in such different fields that we never probably will live closer location wise. There's financial disparity. I earn almost thrice as him but we probably are okay with this. We both are aware of all these problems and are still ready to marry with the "hope" that things will eventually be okay. On the other hand, the guy I met in 2021- he has a good career and location wise, we are in long distance too but way better placed and in near future, his job location might be very flexible. He earns more but has huge family obligations as his family including his two brothers are not very well off. I have probably made peace with it when I thought about considering him for marriage. I love him and we have great emotional intimacy . I feel so calm and happy around him. It's like a festival when he is around me. He too loves me a lot and is ready to take efforts to make our marriage possible given the family and caste differences. I am really very disturbed and unable to decide whether I should break the marriage as if things don't improve after marriage, I will regret it always. Preparations have started slightly and it would be a big step now. Should I just forget about the 2021 guy and marry my long term boyfriend in November hoping that things will fall in place..or.. What should I do! My long term boyfriend has also lost feelings for me but he still cares for me and he says if we work for our relationship, things will be good post marriage