Sanjay Khan’s wife Zareen Khan died in November last year. While she was married to a Muslim and born a Persian, her body was cremated according to Hindu rituals. While people raised questions, in a recent interview, Zareen’s daughter, jewelery designer Farah Khan Ali, broke her silence on the matter.
She revealed that the reason Zareen wanted to cremate her body was because she wanted to immerse her ashes in water. “She was sound and hearty, and she went to sleep at night. She was so peaceful, that when she died, it couldn’t have been more traumatic,” Farah said in an interview with Vicky Lalwani, opening up about her death while being emotional. She also added, “She always told us that I pray to Sai Baba that when I go, I am taken away in an instant while I am sleeping.
Even though she was born a Parsi, and married to a Muslim, she asked us to cremate her as a Hindu because she wanted her ashes to be immersed in the flowing waters of Kashmir. She was afraid of being in the grave. This was one of the reasons why she wanted to be cremated as a Hindu. When she died, there were a lot of unkind comments about why she was cremated as a Hindu.
I come from a family where we were taught to love all religions and celebrate all holidays.
I can ignore trolls pretty well. I’m an expert at ignoring trolls. At the end of the day, you only have so much time and you only need to take care of the people that matter to you and the people you love.” She further revealed, “At her prayer ceremony, we had five priests from different religions – Parsi, Sikh, Hindu, Christian and Muslim. They all performed different prayers and then the children and all of us talked about her. More than 2,000 people attended her prayer ceremony because she was so loved.” When asked how Sanjay Khan coped with Zareen’s death, Farah said, “I think men don’t take loss well. My father was no exception. He also took my mother for granted because she was always there and today I think he misses her terribly. But he is also someone who keeps himself very busy because if he doesn’t keep himself busy, he will be in deep pain. Now, he is trying to prevent that because he lived with her and she was there 24/7.”
“He’s not dealing with it well, and he’s dealing with it like all of us.” She burst into tears as she missed her mother and said, “I write to her and tell her about my day and what she means to me. I do it every day. She was my world, my world. There will never be another Sanjay Khan Zareen Khan. She had two superpowers, giving everyone love, forgiveness and forgetting.”
