Wedding Invitation

I had recently been hired into a software company in Bangalore, miles away from home. Not long ago, I had received a wedding invitation from a relative. I had never met them as they were not very close (my uncle’s wife’s sisters’ son to be exact), still I decided to go there. This was one of those wedding-parties in which you are so distantly related that you don’t even know the bride’s & groom’s names, and you check the invitation card for those. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to do that. To make things worse, the board in front of the party-hall (which usually said the bride’s and groom’s names) said “Sharma family welcomes you” instead. "Great, now I am at someone’s wedding whose name is not even known to me." I said to me.

It was just like any other Indian wedding party. Kids running around & dropping food; the couple exhausted by the countless photographs they had to take with their countless relatives; teenagers being annoyed by people with questions like “Doctor or engineer?” etc. Nevertheless, this wedding was different. I finally managed to get a seat. And luckily, a beautiful girl was sitting right next to me.

“Hey, I’m Ajay” I said nervously to her, the only girl of my age there. “Hello, I’m Neha” she said politely. Damn, I was surprised she didn’t give me that ‘go-away-you-desperate-nerd’ look. “Do you know Samir?” she asked. I thought “Who is Samir? Probably the groom”. Instead of explaining her the complex relation between me & the groom, I told her “Yes, Samir is my friend”. “Oh, so are you also a civil engineer?” she asked enthusiastically. I said “Yeah, we work together”, trying to cover up my lie. What followed was the longest & the most-amazing conversation I had ever had with a girl, and I liked everything about her. She occasionally brought up Samir’s name though, and I had to lie my way out or change the topic. After some time, I asked “Would you like some ice cream” and she happily accepted it.

I returned with two ice cream cups, and saw Neha putting her phone back in her pocket. She said, "I have to go now. Samir’s flight must be reaching soon". Confused, I looked at the stage, and saw the groom who was still sitting there. I vaguely said “Samir?” “Samir, My husband, you know him right? He is returning from Mumbai today” she said doubtfully.

“Yes, I just.. uhm…good bye then” I said, too bewildered to say anything else. “Good bye” she said & left, having no idea how my heart felt like that damn tissue paper which had fallen from the table and stepped over by more than a dozen people. I thought two things right then “(1) Always check the invitation card for names. (2) Screw everything, I have two ice creams now.”