A Nobel Prize at seventeen! The youngest ever Nobel Laureate! What do you after that? And let’s not forget that Malala had fought hard in those early years of her life – first for the right to education for herself and other girls like her and then, for her life, as she recovered from bullet wounds. Malala’s activism began at the age of 11, when her father, a schoolteacher, suggested that she blog about her life in the Swat valley for the BBC Urdu website. She wrote pseudonymously as Gul Makai.

Malala’s dedication to the cause of education, and especially girls’ education is well-known. She has received many prestigious awards honouring her work, commitment and resilience. I wonder whether awards matter to Malala – a young girl who nearly lost her life because she continued to fearlessly do what she believed in. But awards matter to the ordinary person. Whenever we hear of someone getting an award, we learn more about them and their work.

Malala’s many awards, have always brought the focus on girls’ education. The issue of girls’ education, sadly, continues to be contentious even in the 21st century. This is not to say that it is only girls who are deprived of education, but the fact remains, that conservatives never tire of either limiting or even banning education for girls.

Along with winning awards, speaking to world leaders and addressing conferences, Malala also lived the life of a young girl. She went to school in Birmingham and took her GCSEs and A levels. Rather endearingly, she told Emma Watson, that she had decided to call herself a feminist after listening to the young actor’s speech. She joined Oxford University and graduated in 2020 with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). I wonder how many Nobel Laureates have enrolled for an undergraduate degree after winning the coveted award.

Like most young people, Malala’s vision of her future has changed. She wanted to be a doctor and then a politician. In March this year, she announced a multi-year partnership with Apple TV+ and the launch of a production company, Extracurricular. Her shows are expected to go on-screen next year.   

Malala has recently been in the news because on November 9, she got married to Asser Malik, an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). In an interview in July this year, she had asked why people must sign papers and get married. She had talked about her friends finding partners and wondered about finding love….whether you could trust someone and was it possible to be sure. South Asian cultures, we know, are focused on marriage to the point of obsession. Of course, heterosexual marriage, and we have opinions on everybody’s relationship choices, especially if the persons are well-known.

Malala’s marriage has excited a lot of comment. People are wondering whether her parents have pressurised her to get married. And Taslima Nasreen, the exiled Bangladeshi writer, has expressed disappointment at Malala’s choice of partner and the fact that she has married so young! Malala is twenty-four, a Nobel Laureate and a university graduate – surely, we can respect her choices.  

Anyway, right now, Malala has not given us any reason to think that she has metamorphosed from her determined self into a docile Pakistani wife. She has already published an article about her marriage https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/malala-wedding-personal-essay#intcid=_vogue-uk-right-rail_b0a1096b-7adc-4931-84ca-1f0e86b91455_popular4-1 Let us hear what she has to say and wish her the very best for this new journey in her life.