South Asian Outlook: An Independent e-Monthly

THE MARRIAGE THAT WAS NOT TO LAST 25 DAYS, CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

Sohail and Raheel met while studying in a course on Tourism in Karachi 25 years ago. They became best friends, and the friendship then developed into romance.

The families would never have agreed to a wedding because they were young and unsettled, they belonged to different sects, he was 19 and she was 24.

So the couple decided to take the future into their own hands and get married. A friend arranged for an Imam at his house and with the friend as a witness, the two had the religious ceremony i.e. their Nikah read.

But then, they each went back home and lived with parents for another six months before they decided to tell everyone.

They did not have the financial, social or emotional resources to have a celebration and people took bets this marriage would not last 25 days.

"My father's reaction (he was in the Army) would put a nuclear explosion to shame. But I come from a very close family and my sister helped me ease the tension, and Raheel won him over. But to settle down in Pakistan after having taken such a step is not acceptable even these days, never mind 20 years ago", Sohail told Kristin Rushowy of The Toronto Star five years ago.

On June 25, 2001 Sohail and Raheel Raza celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary at Scotsdale Farm in Georgetown.

The invitations were sent by their two sons, Saif (17) and Zain (15). The couple said they wished to share the story of their life so they worked with a group of close friends at a program that told the story from the beginning. Their story was set to prose, poetry, music and dance and told in many stages by a group of friends from diverse backgrounds.

The story was about their trials and tribulations, about challenges and courage and most of all about family who became friends and friends who became family.