“Six years ago my daughter ran away with a boy. Their married life was one month long. After one month the boy disappeared. I found my daughter after three months. When I found her, she was living in the same slum room they rented and discovered something is very wrong with my child. She was abnormal and three months pregnant. I decided to stay at the house with her without forcing her to come with me. I slept on the floor and she slept in the bed. Every night she woke up and screamed by asking me to open the door as she felt the boy is knocking at the door. Every time I opened the door and showed her there was no one.

After one year we returned to the village with no mental improvement. She held her newborn boy to her chest and never let anyone take him, as she used to think the child may leave her as well. A year ago I got a marriage proposal for her. My son-in-law was a widower and had four little children. Everyone told me not to share anything about my daughter’s mental condition. I also realised I would never tell it to him including about her son.

But when we were fixing the wedding date I was feeling like a criminal. The moment the groom was leaving I stopped him and opened my heart and started to tell what I had to say at our first meeting. He stopped me and said he knew everything. I was surprised and asked him how. He said the day he met my daughter, she said everything and he really wanted to marry her. He left and I rushed to my daughter. I asked her what she said, she reluctantly told me, I said – ‘I am Nahar. I have a mental problem. I scream at night to open the door and ask to check if someone is knocking. Except this, I am all okay. I also have a five-year-old son, whom I will take with me after we get married.’

My daughter is married for a year now, taking care of her five children wonderfully. This cow was their wedding gift which my son-in-law did not take with him. He told me to keep the cow for myself. My daughter is still sick. During my last visit when I asked my son-in-law what he does when Nahar screams. He said, ‘Every night I take her outside to show there is no one’. Tears were rolling all over my face when he assured me, Nahar will be okay. I also know my child will be cured. Because love is the best medicine which my daughter is receiving abundantly.”

– Ali Noor

Story By – GMB Akash