Marriage Mishaps: When Travel Meets Chaos

Can you feel it? The beat of the dhol is ringing in your ears. The bass of the wedding music reverberates on the dance floor. Adrenaline makes you throw your hands up at every event.

Or are you too preoccupied with the whiff of an impending flu or the alarming warning of a body-shaking sneeze? Or maybe you’re too uncomfortably sandwiched between two relatives in a car to care.

Either way, it reminds you of your naivety when you saw castes romanticizing the desi wedding experience, only to think how far the radius of your comfort zone can stretch.

Busy season

Welcome to the beginning of January – a short but intense period that indiscriminately demands maximum effort if you live in this corner of the world. Others refer to this spell as the inevitable season of marriage.

At this point, you may have attended at least a wedding or two. For the most part, you are indifferent. Your poor coastal town is generally sidelined by the touch of winter – it’s an agile pasture at best. Karachi is no stranger to the cold, so when it hits, it’s worth celebrating. And what is a grander celebration here than a devoted array of wedding celebrations?

Well, you’re excited. You got word months ago that a family wedding is planned for this season, so you have a lot to look forward to. And with the parties split into cities, that tiny, adventurous spirit in you is intrigued by the logistics. However, most are frightened by the impending chaos.

You think this might be the last wedding in your family for a while, so you have to make the most of it. Chaos aside, there will be plenty of memories to pull from this eventually. The neutrality of this prediction saves you from the greater burden that you will have ahead of you.

On the road

If you are a Karachiite, you naturally think that Hyderabad is not far away. A short road trip is not a hassle for you, even if you are not a travel enthusiast. Your schedule seems simple enough – hit the road in the morning, mark your stop before the afternoon, relax at your aunt’s, attend the wedding, and return home the same evening. Simple enough, right?

Wrong. When most of your journey begins on the highway, you don’t take into account the resulting gridlock and traffic.

But hey, that’s fine. You rest with your legs stretched out in the trunk of the three-row car, with your sibling perched on the opposite side. So far, it’s a picnic, especially since you’re not a fan of the morning breeze and the sun is shining through the back window like a blessing.

That is until the hours start ticking. You’re running low on snacks and your ears are hurting from how long you’ve had your headphones plugged in. Although, once you get them out, you find that your relatives are involved in a row about routes and don’t make the salon appointment in time.

Soon, the sun starts to bake you on one side and you wonder if you should defend gratitude. You don’t like the cold, so by some self-imposed law you must enjoy the heat. Especially now, when you have no other choice.

Against all odds

Miraculously, you reach your destination by afternoon. You happily jump out of the trunk, ecstatic to feel the ground beneath your feet. Now, there’s the matter of squeezing into a crowded apartment since your aunt is the only relative living in this town.

To no one’s surprise, you can hardly find a spot to immerse yourself and lose the remaining hours. Every bathroom is also occupied, so there’s no chance you’ll even wash your heat-soaked face. A moment of respite arrives when half the apartment is empty, the old people rush to the nearest living room.

This gives you room to get ready, although sometimes you have to resort to using curtains as changing stations. Somehow, you’re all dressed up and ready to go. But not so fast, because it’s almost a ritual to have a fight before a big event.

It shouldn’t be rocket science crowning your uncle – the son-in-law – with a shehra, but by a makeshift consensus, now it is. As the hours tick by, your extended family grows restless—some rushing the process, others cleverly sneaking in moments for photos.

When you finally get to the venue, you think: this is it. Well, not exactly. You happen to be on the groom’s side. The grand entrance is a must. Listen to the fireworks as you stand shivering in your sarara, already missing the merciless afternoon sun.

And finally, you did it. A fantastic evening is ahead, although it ends with a bang. So is going back and wearing casual clothes among the throngs of relatives roaming the cramped space. But the good thing is that it’s over. All that remains now is to depart for home.

But, oh no, the bride and groom run into complications while checking into their hotel room. So all drivers, who are supposed to direct the return journey home, will now take a detour. What they hoped would be minutes stretches into hours as the rest of the guests sit idle. Every yawn threatens sleep, but you’re told that waiting until morning means you risk running into traffic, and you’ve already seen how that plays out.

Finally, with all obstacles laid to rest, you and your extended family set off for home, all vehicles following each other to safety. Somewhere along the way, the chain breaks and ends with your car waiting on an eerie street at 3am. Your cousin needs to be delivered to her house, but your route is unfortunately ahead of the others. Knocking on a locked door is pointless, so wait from a scary sidewalk.

You get home around 4am, tired and anxious. You all but hug every piece of furniture in your room. As you wash off the day’s sweat and head to bed, you can only think of one thing: you have a reception to attend later today.