‘Guests too have some dignity’: Man stuck in bride’s village due to Covid-19 lockdown sends SOS to CM Nitish Kumar

Stranded at his newly-wed bride’s village in Bihar along with other family members, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday made a fervent appeal to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to come to his rescue and save them from embarrassment as his father-in-law has come under a lot of debt to feed them during the lockdown.

“Guests too have some dignity and decorum to follow. In all fairness to the Indian culture, it is beneath the dignity to overstay our welcome at the host’s house. CM Nitish Kumar may understand the helpless situation we have been facing. We are in a dharmsankat sir,” said bridegroom Mohammed Abid, echoing the common sentiment of other baaratis.

The bridegroom, along with nine family members, reached Mathiya village under Rajepur Tumkariya panchayat in Narkatiganj sub-division on March 19. His nikaah with Salma Khatoon was, however, solemnised on March 24. But the baaratis from Uttar Pradesh got stuck in the village as the nationwide lockdown was announced.

The bride’s family are leaving no stone unturned to make the stranded guests feel comfortable in their house.

Bridegroom’s father Akhbar Miyan, 51, his samdhi (bride’s father) Anrul Miyan’s dharmsankat (ordeal) would continue as long as he, along with other baaratis, would stay as forced guests at his house in the given circumstances.

“If my words are reaching the leaders and especially chief minister Nitish Kumar sir, I’d like to request them to treat our case as an exception. My samdhi is in a bad state. He has taken a loan to feed us and provide the comfort. It is embarrassing for us to see him like this,” said Akhabar Miyan.

Meanwhile, bride Salma Khatoon’s father Anrul Miyan is in a different dharmsankant. “They are my samdhan- samdhi and son-in-law’s relatives. For us, making them compromise means our respect gone,” said Anrul Miyan.

His ordeal began before the wedding day itself. “We did not have enough to feed ourselves for the first 14 days of the lockdown. Sensing the imminent crisis, we approached our village headman but no help came through. I had no option but to borrow money from my co-villagers,” said Anrul Miyan.

Lockdown extension added to the worries of Anrul Miyan. He approached the block officials in a hope to find any assistance.

“Entertaining his request, we are looking forward to help him by providing food grains,” said Raghvendra Tripathi, block development officer (BDO), Narkatiganj.