By Syed Majid Gilani

Saabirah walked into her Srinagar home at eighteen, carrying more hope than belongings.

Her husband greeted her with warmth, and his parents opened their arms as if she had always belonged there.

She entered her new life with steady resolve. Days filled with cooking, visits to relatives, small favours for neighbours, and a kindness that shaped every corner of the house.

Motherhood soon added its own glow. First a son, then two daughters.

She handled the long days of work, prayer, and parenthood without complaint and later joined a private school as a teacher.

Her small salary brought dignity and helped her family rise a little above worry.

Evenings filled with tuitions and children from nearby homes, their notebooks spread out across her kitchen table.

Life moved in a straight, dependable line until the morning everything collapsed.

Her husband suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and passed away when she was forty-two. The house felt smaller after that day. Nights stretched out with a heaviness she had never known.

Many Kashmiri widows carry their pain in silence, and she became one of them.

She quit her job and focused entirely on her children and her ageing in-laws. There were illnesses to handle, medicines to measure, and long nights beside their beds.

She used her husband's savings carefully and kept the house in shape through slow years filled with responsibility. When her children grew older, she arranged their marriages with whatever she could gather: savings, her pension, even the gold she had collected since her wedding.

She worked through winter chills and summer heat, keeping every corner of the home clean. She gave without pause and never spoke about her losses.

Her son Imran stayed with her after marriage. She welcomed his wife, Naila, with affection. She taught her family routines, guided her through the household, and helped her settle into the home.

When Naila wished to work as a teacher, Saabirah encouraged her. She promised to take care of the home and the children, and she fulfilled that promise without hesitation.

Her grandchildren became the center of her days. She cooked for them, washed their clothes, soothed their fevers, and waited at the gate every afternoon.

Her pension often went toward family expenses, and she offered it gladly. The house moved smoothly because she handled everything behind the scenes.

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