She dresses up as a bride once a week… on Fridays. Initially, this strange hobby of a mother of four in Lahore, Pakistan shocked her neighbours. Now, they have got accustomed to this. There are various kinds of hobbies in the world. While some are fond of travelling, others are fond of food or reading. Perhaps, no one has heard of the hobby of dressing up as a bride every Friday. The 42-year-old Hira Zeeshan’s hobby is different from others. However, one’s eyes can even turn moist, after getting to know the Truth.

Hira’s mother fell ill 16 years ago. The mother, a patient of blood cancer, was worried about her daughter’s future. She was on a ventilator at Lahore’s Ganga Ram Hospital in her last days. She wanted her daughter to get married before her demise. A hospital staff donated blood to Hira’s mother at that time. As per her mother’s wish, Hira tied the nuptial knot with that person at the hospital. From there, the new bride had travelled straight to her in-laws on a rickshaw. Talking to the media, Hira said that she got married in the hospital itself to make her mother happy. Her mother passed away within a few days of her marriage and she was absolutely devastated after losing her mother.

Hira had no idea that more suffering was waiting for her. Over the next few years, she lost two of her six children, who died in infancy, which saw Hira going into depression. And, she started dressing like a bride every Friday to combat depression. Now, she lives in Pakistan with her children, while her husband lives in London. “It is very difficult to stay alone, especially for a woman,” said Hira.

Hira has stressed that becoming a bride gives her a lot of happiness. Such an act also cuts her loneliness out. She does that every week, without a single break in the past 16 years. Her story is in the headlines in Pakistan nowadays, as she is popularly known as Jumma Bride! “This is all for my husband, and every woman should love and dress up for her man,” added Hira.

It may be noted that Sanjana Rishi, an Indian bride, wore a powder-blue pantsuit to her traditional Indian wedding in September 2020. With her choice of wedding outfit, Rishi delivered a bold fashion statement, making many wonder whether more brides would ditch traditional clothing in favour of the power suit. Rishi (30), an Indian-American entrepreneur, married New Delhi-based businessman Dhruv Mahajan (34) in the Indian capital. Rishi, who had worked as a corporate lawyer in the US, returned to India in 2019.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das