Meera Bai, that was her real name, was introduced to him during his second visit to his village after getting a job in Dubai.
It was time for him to get married, so decided his parents. A Muslim boy had to settle down and raise a family as young as possible, once he had attained puberty. Else, he would lose his way with other distractions and he could never raise a family later. So thought his parents. Everyone in his household married very young. He was hardly twenty something then.
He kept a condition forward to his parents- that he would marry only an orphan!
' Why son, did we bring you up, to do charity for others? And to ignore your parents and siblings?' His father scoffed at him.
His parents thought he was joking. A boy with a good job in a foreign country fetched a good dowry. They were not ready to lose that. And, there were his younger sisters coming of age for getting married as well. His dowry could be given away for their sake. Parents had calculated everything well in advance.
' In that case, I am returning to work father. I don't want to marry now.' young Mostafa disagreed. He was influenced by the new young spiritual leaders who often preached the youth against accepting dowry.
He had met her in an orphanage in the village. She lived there with her mother.
A thin girl with wide eyes. She had a feeling of melancholy around her which added to her beauty. She didn't speak much, nor did her mother.
Mostafa was told that she had completed her High School. She had good skills in cooking and stitching. And that she only had her mother. No one else.
All that didn't matter to him anyway. She was beautiful enough and was an orphan.
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The wedding was a very simple affair. Mostafa was praised for his kindness and generosity by his neighbours that he chose to marry a orphan. His parents were not very happy with his decision. As long as he was the bread winner, they had no much say in the matter.
Within a month after the wedding, Mostafa had to return to Dubai, to join work. He promised his young wife that he would get her a visa very soon and would take her to Dubai- the land of opportunities. Until then, she had to stay with his parents and siblings as was the custom in the village.
Meera didn't complain, nor did she share her sufferings at her in-laws' hands with anyone. She never visited the orphanage. Nor did her mother ever visit her. Both her mother in law and Mostafa's sisters used to taunt her and mock at her for not getting any dowry. They were also very jealous of her beauty.
Mostafa made phone calls every day in the evening after work. His parents were surprised at his calls. He never used to do so before his marriage. That he spent talking to his bride for a long time irked them badly. They kept quiet and waited for an opportunity to get back at her for snatching their eldest son from them.
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Meera's Husband!
Short Story......She was a Muslim woman and he was a Hindu man. She had been working at the place for ten years with no one actually suspecting anything about her Identity. Then a casual question from a colleague triggers nervousness, confusions and tensions...
