Three sisters in particular, Maria, Miariam and Madiha, lost their husbands to the Kashmir conflict and have been destined to live alone. But they did not lose hope because they decided to live for their children, to see them grow up. These three widows who hailed from Jaagraan, a village six kilometres away from the Line of Control (LOC) in the town near Kotli Kashmir, continue their struggle has kept them strong enough to raise their children to be focused individuals with big dreams. Maria may seem like an ordinary woman but she is unique and successful in her own right with a four-year-old son, Tariq, who was only 2 when he lost his father. She recalls the time when mourners stood huddled around the coffin with bloodshot eyes and defines her life as a journey of heartbreak, simply ‘’I was not destined to be happy and I’m merely living my life for Tariq’’.
There are thousands of widows living along the LOC who have been forced to leave and have gone back to live with their mothers, are facing such adversity and struggling to get back on one’s feet after suffering from a great fall.