This chapter looks at the story of Shahana Rahman, who had fixed marriage fraught with many challenges. Shahana's son was only one year and nine months when she separated from his father. She was a single parent, a single woman with very few possessions or money. Shahana was all set to return to India for good when she met her second husband at a Bangladeshi friend's house. She was Hindu and he was Muslim, which gave people something to talk about. People saw that Shahana's husband was a good man, happy to talk to everyone, so then people's attitudes changed. When her mum comes to visit,...

This chapter looks at the story of Shahana Rahman, who had fixed marriage fraught with many challenges. Shahana's son was only one year and nine months when she separated from his father. She was a single parent, a single woman with very few possessions or money. Shahana was all set to return to India for good when she met her second husband at a Bangladeshi friend's house. She was Hindu and he was Muslim, which gave people something to talk about. People saw that Shahana's husband was a good man, happy to talk to everyone, so then people's attitudes changed. When her mum comes to visit, Shahana makes a little temple in her bedroom so her mum can pray. She does not go into that room, but not because she is not a Hindu anymore. It does not matter. In Islam, they say paradise is at the feet of a mother.