Re: marriage for females...isnt it a bit overrated?
It's only overrated because our society has made it as such. For instance, my female cousins and friends are starting to get engaged and married. One of them is a year younger than I am. At the time when she got engaged, one of my aunt's mother in-law wondered how come my cousin got engaged before I did. As if God forbid there's something wrong with me or the sole fact that she is younger and got engaged before I did.
It's all our culture. It's deeply ingrained in our roots. If our parents aren't like that, their friends and relatives would to an extent compel them to think in such a manner.
I totally agree with you about the freedom and the laidback environment many of us find at our parents' place.
The only thing that worries me about marriage is one's husband turning out not as one had thought/imagined and not getting along with in-laws, God forbid.