Islamabad: The ongoing floods have affected over 20 million Pakistanis, including vulnerable groups such as the elderly and sick. But brides-to-be are another group who have suffered as they have lost their dowries in this terrible deluge.
Young, shy and energetic, their share of household work is often more than that of their male counterparts who toil outside.
"In our culture, parents start collecting a dowry when a girl child is born," says Nadia Hassan, 22, of Nowshehra city.
Syed Ziarat Shah, her grandfather and owner of a single-storey home with a vast lawn, was oblivious to the idea of floods half a century ago. Now with four rooms razed to the ground and cracks in every wall, he refuses to leave his lifelong abode.
"Everything was ruined in 14-foot high flood waters but grandfather preferred to stay on the rooftop where each new wave of air brought a heavy stench of animal and human corpses," said Nadia.
Moving home
She has moved to a rented home in an Islamabad suburb with her brothers Zeeshan, 20, Ahsan, 11, her mother, aunt and grandmother.
Rohania, her mother, has lost her appetite due to the trauma while her grandmother fears flooding when it rains here too.
"My mother has nightmares and she wakes up crying and screaming," says Nadia, explaining that it's hard to comfort others when her own heart is sinking.
Unlike the other women in the family, this bride-in-waiting has her own plan for life and is gifted with a talent for dress design and embroidery. While her brother and father work to meet the daily needs of their ‘homeless' family, she awaits some start-up funding or sale point for her creations.
Website
Nadia, however, with her dreams of a website to sell her creations offshore and of outlets in the Middle East, is more privileged than most young girls her age. "A wedding ... it was sure to happen this year but now it is no more an issue or a subject of discussion," says the only daughter of a solid middle class family.
Thousands like her face a much more uncertain future with everything washed up and grooms still expecting a houseful of electronic items and furniture. After the October 2005 earthquake, dozens of young girls were married in simple nikah ceremonies at relief camps. This time around, the situation is quite uncertain.
Unlike the earthquake, the deluge has not only razed homes but also destroyed household items.
