Not a single village in this north Kerala district has been left untouched by Saturday's aircrash in Mangalore. Roads are empty, almost all the shops shut.
A huge, decorated marriage tent has overnight turned into a site of mourning in the small hamlet of Bappayathotti.
Fausia (22) was to get married on Sunday. Both her brothers, Muhamed Basheer (38) and Abubaker Siddiqui (36), died in the crash. Now no one knows when the wedding will take place.
Both the brothers were working as salesmen in a departmental store in Dubai. They had worked hard to raise money for their only sister's wedding.
Fausia's father is a small trader.
In nearby Benur, K Abdullah and his wife were busy with preparations for the wedding of their daughter too. But the merriment turned to mourning as news of the crash came. Their son Anwar Sadique was among the 158 dead.
Sadique had been working in Dubai for the past three years and he too had pumped in all his savings into this big family occasion.
Weddings are ostentatious in north Kerala, more so if a member of the bride or groom's family happens to work in the Gulf.
{{/usCountry}}Weddings are ostentatious in north Kerala, more so if a member of the bride or groom's family happens to work in the Gulf.
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