Why Remove The Thali / Mangal sutra While Going To Work?

I honestly don't believe in wearing my thaali to

1) To tell the world that I am married
2) To preserve Indian tradition
3) To increase my husband's longevity.

But I am having such a hard time with my parents and in-laws. I was (and still am) in the US when our marriage was fixed and so I didn't have a chance to pick out my thaali or the chain. My in-laws did it for me and man, it is too thick and huge. I wore it for a month, and gave up on it. Not just because it is uncomfortable but because I strongly feel that I don't need it to display anything or to prove a point. My parents have visited us here and know that I don't wear it but though they are unhappy they decided not to hold it against me. But my in-laws on the other hand have no clue. I have inclusions like the conch and shell to my thaali and now in our impending trip to India, they want me to have coral beads attached to it!

Now it's only been a little over a year since we got married and we never got to live as a family together to understand each other - so I haven't had a chance to tell/explain my point of view to them. So I am going to have to put up a false pretense in India and when they visit us here later this year. May be I will get a chance to explain to them when they are here but until them I hate to admit, I HAVE to put up a false pretense.

I really hope people stop judging people based on how they look what a supposed 'culture'/'tradition' dictates..!