^^ 1) Ask her if she can quote a percentage on “alot of the time.” Tell her you’re doing a research report on imposed marriages.
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Tell her that while cousin marriages are not prohibited in Islam…it’s advised to marry outside of the family.
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“Everyone elses girls do it”. Tell her she sounds like a teenager saying “All the other kids are doin it”. Ask her if you should jump of a cliff if everyone else is doing it. If you’re feeling extremely wicked and want to scare her…tell her that you used the “Everyone else is doing it” reasoning to justify smoking pot in high school. (Kidding)
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When she says, “Look at so and so and so”…then YOU give her examples of “so and so and so and so and so and so” people that did not marry their cousin…and did not marry a Rajput…and are living happy lives.
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And while you’re putting forth these rhetorical questions…you should tell her that a wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion, a good memory to look back on. And does SHE…as a mother…(yes, play the mommy card) want her daughter to be miserable on her wedding day…to sit there on the stage and go through all the motions with a heavy heart??? Ask her if she wants to rob you of that happiness that should ideally come once in a life time. Then ask her if she wants to spend all the money, time, and energy in a wedding in which her own daughter is not happy.
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Praise mom’s ego…whilst simultaneously spreading a **THICK **layer of guilt on her. Tell her how you always thought of her as more than just a mom…that you thought of her as your best friend…someone who was different from the typical desi moms and actually understood her daughter…that you could trust her with anything…that you always thought she was a strong and independent minded woman who considered all angles before making a decision…that you thought that your relationship had come to a point where you could speak to her as woman to woman.
…then look down on floor with Bollywood style, teary-eyed, dejected face…and say, “I guess I was wrong. I misjudged.”
^After giving her the guilt trip…proceed to…DAD…and use the same lines on him.
If all of the above prove futile…erm…bhook hartaal??