"Tum lakh bhulakar dekho
Hum apne dil ki awaz tumhare tak pohcha
Sakte hai...
Na SMS ka na call ka mohtaj hai ye dil
Hum aap ke dil ko ek hichki se hila sakte hai..."
(You keep trying to forget me
I can still make my heart's voice reach yours...
My heart isn't dependant on SMS or a call
I can shake your heart with just a hiccup...)
***
"Are you awake my doll?" Mr Faruqi asks Zaala as soon as she sits up on her bed after waking up from her restless sleep." "Yes, dad." She replies with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
" Do you want water?" He asks and Zaala nods her head in agreement.
Mr Faruqi himself gives her a glass of water. He then tells Zarq to prepare ginger tea for Zaala as her throat is soar and her voice comes out not more than a whisper because of it.
Actually, Mr Faruqi and Zaala are on good terms since last week. He is bringing all her favourite dishes every day, since last week like chicken tandoori, strawberry and chocolate pastry, pistachio ice cream, chicken biryani, choco moose, etc. Because of all these things she suffers from swollen tonsils, throat infection and high fever.
After drinking the tea she goes to take a bath. Zaya is constantly crying for the last two days as both the sisters never remained apart anytime, so now Zaala cries a lot while taking the shower as she knows Umme Hani won't let her cry while dressing her up.
As soon as she comes out of the bathroom Zaya tells her that their Bade Abbu (Mr Faruqi's elder cousin) is waiting to take her signature. In one of her nightgown itself, she says 'Qabool hai' three times and then signs. A smile appears on her face remembering her first nikah but the smile quickly gets washed away as she glances at herself in the mirror. Her first nikah (marriage) dress was a burkha (abaya) and her second marriage dress is this nightgown. She pouts unhappily.
"Hey gowny bride, congrats." Umme Hani teases her.
"Is that even a term?" Zaala asks in a complaining tone.
"Yeah, I introduced it just now." Umme Hani replies and both the friends laugh.
Zarq enters inside and asks them to hurry up. Zaala's nikah was held at a mosque and the lunch was held in the mosque as well as in a marriage hall. After Zaala gets ready she is taken to the marriage hall. She didn't had her breakfast as she doesn't feel hungry because of her fever.
After sitting for nearly an hour she feels a severe headache because of her cold and cool flowers. But nobody allows her to remove them. At lunch time Umme Hani and Zaya try to feed her but she only takes three bites and doesn't eat more.
After some times Hunaif comes there with a chocolate-strawberry pastry which Mr Faruqi gave for Zaala. She's beyond shocked as this is the first he's allowing her to eat something like this in her illness but she happily eats it. Sabil then comes there and they take some photos of the bride and the groom along with their relatives.
After the guests leave from there Mr Faruqi sends Zaala to his house. Sabil wanted to do the bidai (bride's farewell) from the marriage hall itself but gets annoyed when he comes to know that his bride has already left. Mr Faruqi takes Sabil in a corner and says, "look here my doll isn't feeling well, she's having a high fever and I can't send her at your home today. We'll do the bidai after she gets well."
"What?" Sabil gets shocked, he feels like banging his head on the pillar beside him or rather banging Mr Faruqi's head on it but the later has already left.
Sabil then thinks of a perfect plan to backfire. Instead of going to his home from the marriage hall he takes all his relatives to Mr Faruqi's house, especially the ladies and the children. Mr Faruqi gets confused seeing so many people at his house all of a sudden but being helpless he has to welcome them.
He then arranges tea and snacks for everyone and then as instructed by Sabil one by one the little children from his house goes near Mr Faruqi and asks, "when are you sending Zaala aunty at our home?", "When will the bidai take place?", " For how long do we need to wait for Zaala bhabi's bidai?", etc.
Mr Faruqi gets irritated answering all their questions. Mr Rehman, then himself asks, "it's already time for Asr Namaz (salah offered by the Muslims before sunset) when will the bidai take place?"
Mr Faruqi angrily glares at Sabil who smirks in return. Mr Faruqi then replies, "I was thinking to do the bidai after some days. You can see Zaala is having throat infection and because of her soar throat it's unable to hear her voice and she's also having high fever. I hope you understand that it's better if we pospone the bidai."
"She's not only your daughter, now she's mine too. It's not like we are taking her to another city, we live just opposite to you so you can visit her anytime and she too can visit you anytime. Don't worry about her as from now on she's our responsibility. In our family when we get our son's married we don't bring daughters-in-law but daughters. If she wants she doesn't need to get down from her bed and nobody will utter a word this I promise to you, not only for now but forever." Mr Rehman's words make Mr Faruqi speechless and he nods his head in agreement.
"What about the furniture and other items, shall I send it to your house right now?" Mr Faruqi asks.
"I already made it clear that I only want your daughter and I'll be taking her from here in a single dress brought by me, so I won't accept any furniture or any other things from you. I already have mine and if Zaala wishes for something new I'll happily buy it for her." Sabil firmly replies and leaves from there with his dad to offer Asr Namaz.
Mr Faruqi calls a few of his male servants and instructs them to fix the wardrobe and the bed inside Sabil's room. He also sends all the bags carrying Zaala's stuff to Sabil's house. Rest of the items he keeps at his old house after Humera (Sabil's mom) tells him that she can't allow more items inside her house against her son's wish. Mr Faruqi then goes to offer his Namaz. After the Namaz he brings Sabil and his dad to his house for bidai. He discuss with them about random stuff until he receives a call from his servants that they have fixed everything.
Mr Faruqi then goes near Zaala's room and knocks before entering inside. Except Zarq, Umme Hani and Zaya everyone leaves the room. Seeing his daughter as a bride ready for her bidai fills his heart with pain as he knows that today this piece of his heart will go away from him, it'll be possessed by someone else.
He hugs Zaala and tears start flowing down his eyes. Zaala gets shocked as this is the first time she saw her tough dad crying like a child. Unable to control her emotions she too starts crying. Same happens with others present there. After some time they somehow control their emotions and he asks Zaala to get ready for her bidai.
Umme Hani makes Zaala look presentable again. When Zaala is brought out of her room she hugs her aunts and cousins one by one, at the end it's Hunaif's turn. He keeps his hand on her head and with the other, he caresses her cheeks and says, "be happy." He then tries to move aside but Zaala holds his wrist and pulls him towards her and hugs him. They both cry silently.
Sabil then hold Zaala's hand and gives her an assuring smile. It somehow stops her tears. When they reach the exit Sabil doesn't find his shoes. He looks here and there but they are nowhere to be seen. Mr Rehman chuckles and calls Zaya. Mr Faruqi looks confused when Zaya appears with her lowered head and hands behind her back but he gets angry when she slowly brings Sabil's shoes in front of her which she was hiding.
"Why did you do it, you know I dislike such things. Are you a kid? Keep them down and get lost." Mr Faruqi angrily shouts. Zaya being embaressed keeps the shoes down in front of Sabil who pulls a bundle of notes from his pocket and without counting them hands it over to Zaya who doesn't take it so he gives it to a kid and asks him to give it to her.
"There's no need for this, we don't allow such useless customs in our house, I don't know why she did it?" Mr Faruqi stops the kid and says to Sabil.
Mr Rehman sends that kid inside and says, "it's ok, this is just a common custom practised for fun. Let it be, Sabil is just like a brother to Zaya there's no need to scold her for this."
Sabil wears his shoes and exits the house Mr Faruqi goes inside, it's then that aunt Khulus comes forward and asks Sabil to lift Zaala in his arms and carry her to his house as they have to cross just a single street to reach his house.
Hearing this Zaala suddenly elbows Sabil and says, "don't dare to do so." While moving her pointer finger from right to left. Sabil smirks and whispers in her ears, "believe me, I didn't even think to do it." Zaala's face goes red with embarrassment.
Sabil then politely denies to aunt Khulus directing towards the eager glances of the other people in their colony.
When they enter his house Nayyala insist him to lift Zaala in his arms but he quickly walks towards his room and opens the door for his wife. The smile on his face vanishes as soon as he looks inside his room.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hello, my lovely readers...
Assalam Alaikum...
I know now-a-days dowry is avoided but still, in many cases, it's forcefully given by the bride's side while on the other hand it's forcefully demanded by the groom's side in other cases. But this evil custom is still practised in many families. No matter how much we regard it as an evil custom when it comes to marriages we are helpless to avoid it, sometimes in the name of the family honour and sometimes for the happiness of our bride...😔😔😔
For those readers who are confused about this above-mentioned nikah system, its a kind of a traditional Muslim nikah where the groom's consent is asked and his signatures are taken in the mosque itself while the bride's consent is asked and her signature is taken at her house itself. Later on, the guests and the bride and the groom go to a marriage hall/hotel where the lunch/dinner is served and the rest of the function is continued there...
Anyways do you ever realise, this twelve-hours day is too long? Especially when everyone wants you to rest 🛌 and you have basically nothing to do, but I have my wattpadddd...🤗
Zaala and Sabil's wedding dress.