{"id":1397,"date":"2016-07-07T04:43:04","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T04:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=1397"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:06:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:06:04","slug":"india-haryana-love-story-wedding-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1397","title":{"rendered":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

H<\/span>aryana is a tough place for any kind of young love. A brood of self-appointed village elders watches over the movements of anyone over the age of 14, scuttling the prospect of romance even before it can spring. Two lovers from the same community shouldn\u2019t choose each other. Two lovers from different communities had better not choose each other. Especially if they can\u2019t speak.\n\nThe odds were never in favour of Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani. Both are hearing- and speech-impaired. Sushil, born into a Jat family in Bhiwani district\u2019s Garanpur village was eight months old, when he lost both hearing and speech to high fever. Neelam\u2019s story is even shorter; she was born with these disabilities.\n\nEvery once in a while, Sushil\u2019s parents would raise the issue of marriage. He was 23, they\u2019d tell him, and had completed high school. He was fair and handsome; any girl would be willing to overlook his disability. Sushil\u2019s only response to this would be to raise his open palms to the sky, indicating that he was going to leave it to the heavens. Thirty kilometres away in Siwani city, Neelam, 21, a school dropout, was making exactly the same gesture whenever her mother broached the subject of her wedding.\n\nAs fate would have it, the two would cross paths. It was at a meeting for the hearing- and speech-impaired in Hisar this February, that the two first met. Red Cross Society and Hisar administration organise these meetings to impart skills to the differently abled every month. Neelam and Sushil had been involved with the organisation for long, but February was the first time they met. They hit it off immediately and spoke with each other in sign language for close to 20 minutes.\n\nSo intense was their first meeting that when they returned home, Sushil turned to the first port of call for budding lovers: Facebook. He found Neelam and sent her a friend request. Now without the constraints of sign language, the two started chatting, communicating in Hindi and Haryanvi.\n\nSushil told Neelam about his love for bikes, travel, and homemade food. Neelam, on the other hand, spoke about a solitary childhood, and how it took her a long time to overcome her shyness, and her mother\u2019s travails after her husband\u2019s death. The two spoke for a month as their bond continued to grow.\n\nOne day, Neelam dropped Sushil a message and asked him to meet her at the Agroha Temple for something special. She was not alone: Neelam had asked him to come so that she could introduce him to her mother, Channo Devi, as \u201cmy life partner\u201d. The three struck up a conversation and Channo Devi signed to her daughter that she approved of Neelam\u2019s choice of the handsome young man. But she went silent when she was told that Sushil is a Jat. Channo Devi\u2019s family is Dalit and aware of years of caste violence that greets anyone who dares to overstep its boundaries. For in Haryana, those lines are all but set in stone.\n\nIn a state where honour killings are rife and legitimate inter-caste marriages are routinely written off as rape, this was going to be well-nigh impossible. For <\/p>a Jat marrying a Dalit<\/a> was akin to inviting chaos and disrupting the order of the universe. First, the families wouldn\u2019t agree. Then, even if the families could be persuaded, would the communities allow their union?\n\n

Every once in a while, though, Haryana has the ability to surprise you.<\/blockquote>\n\nThat evening when Sushil returned home, his father Dalbir Mahla, a former army man, asked him why he was grinning from ear-to-ear. Sushil wouldn\u2019t tell him, but later that night, the lovebird let the secret out to his mother. All his silent prayers had been answered: He had found the girl he was going to marry.\n\nOn both sides, the families convened. Some panicked, wondering what the neighbours would say. Others spoke of the dreaded repercussions. It finally came down to Dalbir Mahla. \u201cI\u2019m a fauji,\u201d he told his family. \u201cAnd in the army, everyone is equal.\u201d And so must it be in his life.\n\n\"\"\n
\n

The young lovers finally tied the knot at Siwani temple with a simple ceremony.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: 101 Reporters<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nDalbir called Channo Devi and assured her that Neelam would be treated like their daughter. The young lovers finally tied the knot at Siwani temple with a simple ceremony.\n\nSushil and Neelam are now over the moon \u2013 life was kind to them when it mattered the most. Through a sign-language interpreter, Sushil expressed how grateful he is to have found Neelam. But his beaming face communicated so much more.\n\nThe young couple knows it is a miracle that their relationship has been able to transcend the fiercely defended boundaries of caste and social hierarchy. Sushil said he has never met a couple in their village or any nearby place where two people madly in love were allowed to get married with their parents\u2019 permission with such ease.\n\n\u201cI sometimes thank God for making me disabled,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise our relationship would never have been accepted by society.\u201d\n\nWith inputs from Gulshan Popli <\/em>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":1400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[2390,2391,2392,1138,1857,2393,2394,2283,19,2395,224,2286,2396,417],"class_list":["post-1397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-caste-system","tag-castes-in-india","tag-deaf-and-dumb","tag-disability","tag-haryana","tag-hearing-loss-and-speech-impairment","tag-honor-killings","tag-honour-killings","tag-india","tag-jatt","tag-love","tag-love-marriage","tag-marriages-in-india","tag-weddings"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-07T04:43:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T14:06:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sat Singh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sat Singh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sat Singh\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3b2c955fd068fe3f96a6c4f573f7b5db\"},\"headline\":\"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-07T04:43:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T14:06:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397\"},\"wordCount\":876,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1506066828.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"caste system\",\"castes in india\",\"deaf and dumb\",\"Disability\",\"Haryana\",\"hearing loss and speech impairment\",\"honor killings\",\"honour killings\",\"India\",\"Jatt\",\"love\",\"love marriage\",\"marriages in india\",\"weddings\"],\"articleSection\":[\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397\",\"name\":\"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1506066828.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-07T04:43:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T14:06:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3b2c955fd068fe3f96a6c4f573f7b5db\"},\"description\":\"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1506066828.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1506066828.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1397#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3b2c955fd068fe3f96a6c4f573f7b5db\",\"name\":\"Sat Singh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5260f94aa41498fe06efbf1618c510d88431c6c62b89312adf669729820b4e28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5260f94aa41498fe06efbf1618c510d88431c6c62b89312adf669729820b4e28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5260f94aa41498fe06efbf1618c510d88431c6c62b89312adf669729820b4e28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sat Singh\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=146\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana","description":"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana","og_description":"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-07-07T04:43:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T14:06:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sat Singh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana","twitter_description":"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sat Singh","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397"},"author":{"name":"Sat Singh","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/3b2c955fd068fe3f96a6c4f573f7b5db"},"headline":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana","datePublished":"2016-07-07T04:43:04+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T14:06:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397"},"wordCount":876,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg","keywords":["caste system","castes in india","deaf and dumb","Disability","Haryana","hearing loss and speech impairment","honor killings","honour killings","India","Jatt","love","love marriage","marriages in india","weddings"],"articleSection":["People"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397","name":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-07T04:43:04+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T14:06:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/3b2c955fd068fe3f96a6c4f573f7b5db"},"description":"Sushil Mahla and Neelam Rani are hearing- and speech-impaired, but are grateful for their disabilities. In Haryana, their relationship wouldn\u2019t have transcended the fiercely defended boundaries of caste had they been \u201cnormal\u201d.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1397#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Two Deaf Lovers & a Caste System: A Story from Haryana"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/3b2c955fd068fe3f96a6c4f573f7b5db","name":"Sat Singh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5260f94aa41498fe06efbf1618c510d88431c6c62b89312adf669729820b4e28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5260f94aa41498fe06efbf1618c510d88431c6c62b89312adf669729820b4e28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5260f94aa41498fe06efbf1618c510d88431c6c62b89312adf669729820b4e28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sat Singh"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=146"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1506066828.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1399,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions\/1399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}