Valley women struggle to hold on to sanity

Zahida Bano, 62, lives with her ailing husband in a far off village in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir. After mechanically going through the day's chores she sits at the window sill of her small home in the mountains for the remainder of the day with her hands on her face. It was way back in 1993 that her eldest son Mohamad Asim, 27 at the time, had left home and he hasn't come back since. She believes he will return and that is why she keeps up her daily vigil at the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. \"Asim will come,\" she remarks, her eyes welling. Doctors believe that Zahida is otherwise okay, it's just her grief that is making her sick.

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