Hi Striving,
Are you in the US?
In my opinion, you are not asking the most useful question.
I imagine the most useful question would be:
"How much do I want my parents' opinions, expectations and assumptions about my life to determine what I choose?"
The answer will be somewhere between, "I want their opinion to be the most important factor in my life," on the one hand. On the other hand, "I want to choose my own path regardless of their traditional assumptions that they know what is best for me."
If you want them to entirely dictate your life, then ask them to make your plan for your arranged marriage.
If you want you to entirely dictate your life, then make your own choices.
If you want something in between these extremes, then pick the balance between you and your parents.
In my opinion, you're showing a huge conflict between wanting to please their traditional expectations, and also wanting to explore a more individualistic Western appraoch. This conflict has to be resolved before you can make any reasonably satifying plans about marriage or anything else.
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