Just A Dream

A shimmer of hope

"Girls hurry up, here comes the groom", declared Zeenath in an excited voice.

"Saniya, Sabreena, Shazia, touch up Suhana's make up"

"Shazia adjust her hijab, it's a bit disheveled"

"Saniya!! Ya Allah, the sandals aren't matching with the Lehenga"

And it went on....

The Saleem household was filled with festive atmosphere.

Suhana Saleem the third daughter of  Saleem and Zeenath had tied knots with Muhammed Ashraf.

It was a rare sight when the members of Saleem household celebrated.

Saleem and Zeenath had six children, the Eldest son being Sinan followed by Saniya, Sabreena, Suhana and Shazia and a year after Shazia's birth Safwan was born.

Saleem Sulaiman was ecstatic with the birth of  young Safwan. But the happiness did not last for long. The child had to undergo a major surgery which was unfortunately unsuccessful. Post this, the child was categorised as abnormal.

Mr.Saleem had found it very hard to come in terms with this news and had slowly become a very inferior and inactive person. It was as if he had lost his motivation to live. He became unsupportive towards his family and quit his job. He would spend hours together doing nothing. Zeenath Saleem was terrified with all that happened around her. It was as if she had lost her husband and her child to nothingness. They were physically present but mentally absent.

Zeenath did not have an attractive resume to apply for a job so she had to depend on the little that her husband had earned during his active days to feed the family.

The eldest son Sinan tried his best to fill his fathers place. He worked for years in Qatar and stood as a firm support to his mother. All his hard earned money was spent to marry off Saniya and Sabreena. Who got married at a very young age.

Sinan returned back to India after 5 years of hard work. He got married to Amira Fathima. He had given some time to his wife but soon he decided to return back to Qatar. Amira was desperate to leave with Sinan. But Sinan was solely concentrating on saving money for his family. So Amira had to stay back with her in laws.

Zeenath had tried her best to make Amira feel comfortable in her home, but to no avail Amira seemed determined to remain in bad terms with the family.

Soon after Suhana finished her education she decided to take teaching as a profession and taught in the local school. She was too good at it and soon became famous amongst the localities because Suhana Ma'am was all their children would speak about when they'd return home from school.

Suhana herself tried to maintain a good relation with her sister in law. But Amira made it difficult for any of the family members when they'd try to get acquainted with her.

Zeenath tried to maintain her calm with her daughter in law because she knew one day Amira would be all that would be left with her. In Sha Allah.

Zeenath was a very strong women. When Safwan had to undergo a major surgery she was completely shaken. She had sought shelter from her husband back them. But the surgery had affected the child's spinal chord which had caused an imbalance in his hormones and  hence the baby would never grow mentally.

She was completely broken when she witnessed her son crying with agony after the news was broken to them post surgery at his one month anniversary. But what had shaken her more was her husbands sudden indifference towards his surroundings. She had tried her best to get her husband out of the void which he had entered to, but to no avail he never returned back to his normal self.