Irfan Ahmed was to marry last summer but the situation post abrogation of Article 370 in August hit his plan. His parents finally decided to get their son married this year in first week of June, but COVID lockdown came in way.
“We hope that things will improve by next two months, so we have delayed the marriage till August,” said Farooq Ahmed, father of Irfan of Hazratbal.
Like in case of Irfan, hundreds others in Kashmir are either delaying or cancelling their marriages due to COVID situation.
Some of the families who have decided to ahead with the marriage of their sons/daughters in June have decided to restrict invitations to close family members only.
In some cases, rather than going for big fat weddings, people do prefer to hold only important events like Nikah. “My sister married few days ago. Earlier we had planned to have a major feast with over 500 guests but owing to COVID situation, we limited the gathering,” said Junaid Zahoor, from Shalimar.
He said many people in their locality were either delaying marriages or limiting the gathering “which is a good thing.”
It is relevant to mention that a large number of marriages were cancelled last year in Kashmir due to the situation post August 2019. It was expected that by 2020 the situation will improve and marriage ceremonies would be celebrated smoothly.