Photo: BSS

By Md Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, Aug 13, 2026 (BSS) – Polao, fish, beef and payesh are being cooked on a clay stove while wedding music is playing in a small courtyard in front of a thatched house. Bride Boishakhi is in a new sari and jewelry, and groom Tarek is in a new Panjabi and pajama. 

In a family struggling with poverty, such an arrangement was like a dream. That dream came true on Wednesday afternoon in Tebaria village under Paba Upazila, Rajshahi. A joyful atmosphere was created there around the wedding arrangement of the two disabled young people.
 
The groom Tarek is intellectually disabled. His home is in Goalmanda village of Naogaon. He works as a mason's helper. He has no father. He is the only support for his sick mother. 

On the other hand, the bride Boishakhi's father Nur Hossain is also intellectually disabled. Her mother Nasrin Bibi is a housewife.
Poverty is so severe in the family that they could not afford to arrange their daughter's wedding.
 
Upon learning about the helplessness of Boishakhi's family, former president of Parila Union BNP, Khairul Alam, took responsibility for the wedding. 

And the entire cost of the wedding arrangement was borne by the 'Lifat Protibondhi Foundation'. The wedding of the two young people was arranged on the initiative of the organization's chairman Riaz Shikder.
 
Chairman of Parila Union Parishad, Sayeed Ali Morshed, was present as a guest at the wedding. He gifted the newlyweds a bed. 15 members of the groom's party came with Tarek.
 
About 200 more people from the area were also invited. From cooking to entertaining guests - there was no shortage in anything. Kazi Wazed Ali solemnized their marriage with a dower (denmohar) of Taka 60,000.
 
After the wedding, in a halting voice Tarek said, 'I have liked Boishakhi. That's why I am getting married. Please all pray for us.'
 
BNP leader Khairul Alam said Boishakhi's family is very poor and helpless. They did not have the ability to get their daughter married. Although she had reached marriageable age, the family was worried due to lack of money. 

“After knowing about it, I felt I should stand by them according to my ability.

 So with the cooperation of Lifat Protibondhi Foundation, I arranged this wedding. Not just for the wedding day, we will try to stand by the newlyweds so that they can live well in the future.”
 
Chairman of Parila Union Parishad Sayeed Ali Morshed said the dreams and the right to live of Boishakhi and Tarek are the same as everyone else's. If able people and organizations of the society come forward like this, it is possible to bring change in the lives of helpless people. 

“I am happy to be able to participate in this wedding. I have given them a bed so that the new couple's life may be happy and beautiful.”
 
Chairman of Lifat Protibondhi Foundation Riaz Shikder said that since his own child is disabled, he has seen closely the life struggles of disabled people. 

From that feeling, he has taken the initiative to stand beside helpless disabled people. Under his organization's initiative, the weddings of 15 disabled people have already been arranged.
 
So in that small courtyard that day, it was not just a wedding arrangement; it was the story of fulfilling the dream of two helpless people building a new home with the support of society.