However, as they say, true love conquers all and the couple found a way to pursue their higher education abroad. They both took off and started living together, much to the chagrin of both families. In the meantime, Farida's father had started coming around, but he demanded that Kaushal convert to Islam before the two could be wed.
After a lot of back and forth, Kaushal agreed to convert and the two returned to India for the wedding that had taken forever to materialise. Back on Indian soil, fervent wedding preparations were underway. Now that things had been formalised, nobody wanted to wait an extra day! Until, that is, Kaushal's father demanded that along with the nikah ceremony, he wanted the couple to take Hindu pheras as well. This landed Farida and her family in a quandary, because they had been counting on a Muslim wedding.
Plans were put on hold; 'family honour' and 'nullification of a nikah' were phrases that had become a part of every conversation that had anything to do with the wedding. Finally, the two sides arrived on middle ground -- although the wedding was planned as a traditional Muslim wedding, a day after the reception the Hindu pheras were conducted, with only the groom's side and the bride's immediate family in attendance.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
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