It was a tragedy of immense proportions. A family in Srinagar’s Bemina locality was busy in preparations for a marriage ceremony when their house was reduced to ashes. Not only this, the bride’s elder sister died of cardiac arrest on watching the horrors unfurl. JUNAID NABI BAZAZ revisits the disaster.
On Aug 25, a marriage ceremony in Bemina’s Alamdar Colony on the outskirts of Srinagar city turned into a site of grief. An impoverished family had invested their life-savings on building a single-storey house which was reduced to ashes just before the groom’s party was scheduled to arrive. That was not all! The elder sister of the bride suffered a massive cardiac arrest on seeing her house up in flames and died before she could be taken to a hospital.
“I was caught in a dilemma. I didn’t know which tragedy to fight and which to delay. My sister was getting married while the house was up in flames. And in the middle of it, the corpse of my elder sister lay besides the ruins of the house. It was not less than the doomsday,” says Nisar Ahmad Bahadur, a car mechanic, the sole bread earner of the family.
When Nisar’s father, Muhammad Sidiq Bahadur, was an adolescent, his parents had expelled him from their house. He then began working as a labourer and lived in a rented house. A realization soon dawned on him that he was paid less than he deserved and became a tailor. As he started earning decently, Sidiq thought of raising his family and married Khate. The two had six children.
Since the family was growing and there was less space to live in, Sidiq planned to own a house. For several years, he saved whatever little money he could and purchased a piece of land in Bemina where he constructed a single-storey house. One year after they shifted to the new house, when Nisar was a Class 5 student, his father died.
This tragedy shifted the burden of raising a family of six on Nisar’s weak shoulders, forcing him to drop out of his school at the age of 12. A young Nisar didn’t find it easy to get a job. After many attempts, he finally landed at the shop of a car mechanic where he has been working till now.
“I tried looking for a job at many places. But no one was willing to take me in. I was looking for something to earn which took me to car mechanic’s shop. For many years, I was paid Rs 100 a month till I started handling automobiles on my own,” he says. In the last 22 years, Nisar attempted to start his own business three times but he failed.
“I could not afford to raise the money for sustaining the business. Up and downs are part and parcel of any business but there was no one to lend me a helping hand. Had I not stuck with this job at car mechanic’s shop, the family would have died of starvation,” Nisar says.
Besides raising the family, Nisar managed to save some money from his meagre salary which helped him in the marriage of his sisters. Since there were no resources to organise a pompous show on the recent marriage, the family preferred a marriage of austerity. In fact, Wazwan which is traditionally served in marriage ceremonies in Kashmir was not prepared. Instead, the sisters of Nisar cooked the food themselves with the help of their relatives.
On a fateful day, the dreams of Bahadur family were shattered. While they were preparing to receive the groom, a fire broke out at their house in which Abida, who was getting married, lost her bridal clothes and jewellery. Nisar brother in-law, Javeed Ahmad, says the incident took place at around 6 pm when a gas stove suddenly stopped working. “We thought the cylinder was empty and it was refilled. Few minutes later, flames started billowing out of the kitchen which engulfed the entire house. Within no time, the single-story house turned into ash.” “I had borrowed money from neighbours and friends to raise Rs 10 lakh for Abida’s marriage. We lost everything,” says Nisar.
The tragedy didn’t end there. “We all were busy in preparations since the baraat was about to come. But the fire changed everything,” recalls Javed. Somehow, the fire was brought under control and the devastated family was advised by their relatives and neighbours to let the marriage function proceed as planned. They began preparations for receiving the groom when the news broke that Shakeela, Nisar’s elder sister, had died and a pall of gloom one again descended on the entire Alamdar colony in Bemina. “She could not tolerate the fire mishap. She was not present in the house when the fire broke out. But once she came in and saw fire everywhere, she yelled and fell on the ground,” says her husband Zahoor Ahmad Wani.
Her corpse was taken to her husband’s house located few metres away from where she was taken to a graveyard and laid to eternal rest. “When I was coming back from the graveyard, I saw Abida wailing along with other sisters. Everyone was crying. The family was devastated. I do not know how I fought the situation. It was only with God’s help,” Nisar says, tears trickling down his cheeks.
Two hours after Shakeela was buried, Abida was sent to her new home. The groom was taken to a neighbour’s house and Nisar, who had just two hours ago buried his sister, was now ensuring that the guests were well served and also became witness in the Nikah cermony. “We have borrowed few lakh rupees from some relatives, neighbours and friends which are unpaid. We have to construct the house too. What shall we do when we have nothing left,” says Nisar’s wife Masarat.
“There can be no poignant moment in life then this,” Nisar says in the chocked voice. The sister was married to Adil Ahmad Wani, a resident of HMT area on the outskirts of Srinagar city. No ritual of the marriage was solemnized after then. Abida visited her home many times but not as a bride. “Every time she visited, she had come t mourn,” says Nisar.
The wrecked family is now in desperate need of financial assistance and is living with a hope that someone would come to their rescue. Everyday Nisar tries to find prospective lenders to provide him money for construction of his house. But so far he has failed. With Nisar’s meagre Rs 4000 a month salary with which he has to feed his three children and his wife, the future looks bleak. The family is living in abject poverty.
Nisar’s relatives helped him in dismantling the charred remains of the burnt house. “We are ourselves living hand to mouth. How can we help him? Shall we feed our families or help him?” asks his brother-in-law, Javed. Despite all this, Nissar hasn’t lost hope. “I have lived with tragedies all my life. And they have made me strong. I have the ability to fight against any odds now. I believe everything will be alright very soon,” he says
When Kashmir Life contacted MLA Batamaloo, Mohammad Irfan Shah, said he was aware of the tragedy and had helped the family, “When the cause of the fire is natural, the government can’t do much about it. But considering the status of the family, I have done whatever I could for them.”
