Dhaka's Manikganj witnessed a wedding unlike any other—a marriage that unfolded not under glittering chandeliers or beneath ornate canopies, but in the sterile corridors of a hospital ward.
On Friday, the walls of Afroza Begum General Hospital echoed with uludhwani and sacred chants as Anand Saha, his body swathed in bandages, lay helpless on a bed dressed in his groom’s sherwani. Beside him, circling with eyes veiled by betel leaves, was his bride Amrita Sarkar, radiant in her bridal finery.
It was not pomp but persistence, not grandeur but grit, that turned this modest ceremony into a spectacle of devotion.
Anand, a resident of Chanmia Lane, has been bedridden for months after a brutal motorcycle accident left him unable to sit or move without assistance. Two surgeries later, doctors declared his recovery would stretch for several more months, perhaps longer. His parents, themselves ailing, could not shoulder his care.
In this bleakness, Amrita—his partner of less than a year—made a decision that startled her family—the wedding would not wait. She insisted on bringing the date forward from December 14, declaring her wish to stand by Anand’s side, even if that meant beginning married life in the fluorescent glow of a hospital hall.
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At first, hospital authorities balked. A wedding in the wards seemed a disruption. But soon, moved by the sheer conviction behind the plea, they relented. A large hall was cleared, and the vows of a lifetime were exchanged amidst beeping monitors and anxious relatives.
“It was a small arrangement,” admitted hospital chief Dr Sirajul Islam. “But when the rituals began, happiness spread across the ward. Even patients and attendants joined in the joy.”
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Anand’s cousin, Ami Saha, summed it up: “He needs time to heal. But more than medicine, he needs someone beside him. That’s what Amrita chose to be.”
As photos and videos of the hospital-bed wedding flood social media, Bangladeshis are hailing Amrita’s decision as an act of rare loyalty and courage. In a country where weddings often compete in extravagance, here was one stripped to its barest core: love choosing care over ceremony.
The garlands may have been exchanged under IV drips and surgical scars, but in Manikganj, a love story was written—unvarnished, undeterred, unforgettable.
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