“With the blessings of Allah and the duaein of our elders, we joyfully invite you to the Nikah of our beloved children, in the gardens of Kashmir.”

It began on the steps of Kashmir University, arguing over whose notes were neater — and ended with shared kahwa at Chai Jaai on the Bund, every single evening. From shikara rides at sunset on Dal Lake to chasing autumn chinars at Naseem Bagh, from the saffron fields of Pampore to noon chai at home with both families laughing together — our dosti grew, season by season, into dua. Today, in a four-hundred-year-old Mughal garden where nehrein still flow, we plant something of our own. Insha'Allah, forever.