Srinagar, July 3 -- There is a moment after every wedding that very few people notice. The music fades. The lights are switched off. The decorators begin dismantling the stage, photographers pack away their cameras, and the last guest bids farewell with a smile. For a few hours, the venue had echoed with laughter, blessings, music and celebration. Every arrangement-from the elaborate decorations to the lavish feast-had drawn admiration. Then, almost as quickly as it began, the celebration ended, and everyone returned to their own lives.

What remains behind is not the applause. It is the reality. The unpaid bills, the exhausted savings, the borrowed money and, in many cases, the burden of loans become the responsibility of only two famili...