Madhava Reddy and lakshmi Reddy married off their only daughter Farzana in a Islamic ceremony. No, it was not a scene of a film shooting nor a play. It was one of the most moving real life story, a silver lining for the humanity in the darkness of religious hatred and divide.
Farzana, who lost both her parents in childhood but was adopted by her neighbour Madhav Reddy and his wife lakshmi, was brought up in pure Islamic traditions as her own biological parents would have. The Reddys had to step in to take care of four-year-old Farzana as none of her relatives came forward to do so.
The story from a remote village of Nalgonda district, moved so many hearts and left so many eyes moist that her wedding ceremony became one huge congregation of people from all faiths and even far-off places.
When Madhava Reddy, not a very rich person, decided to marry Farzana and found a match in Abdul Rasheed, he found many hands extended to help him, one of them Ghyasuddin Babu Khan, the prominent philanthropist, who heads Hyderabad Zakat and Charitable Trust.
Babu Khan and his wife were among the several top Muslims from Hyderabad who attended the wedding ceremony at Goraypalli near Yadgirgutta. But it was the Reddy couple who was cynosure of all eyes as they went around attending on the guest serving the food and then tearfully bidding farewell to the bride.
But their was a sense of satisfaction writ large on their faces having accomplished what many had thought impossible — bringing up a Muslim girl in a Hindu family. But in the process they have created an example of religious harmony and Hindu-Muslim affinity, humanity has not seen in a long time.
Madhava Reddy recalled that ever since the girl moved in their home, she used to call them mummy and daddy like his other two sons. Even the boys in the family, who are now in the USA today, treated her like a sister. “We always encouraged Farzana to be a religious Muslim. We made arrangements to teach her namaz and recitation of Quran and she even observed the fasting in Ramadan,” recalled Reddy.
As the foster-parents embraced their daughter, Farzana broke down. “I will always miss you”, she whispered. “This is your home, you can always come here,” the Reddy parents told her.