A Long Drive

Sometimes our life gets really complicated.  Yash and I live in a city in north India called Lucknow, along with our kids in Yash’s family home.  However, he does a daily commute to the next city, Kanpur, where he teaches biochemistry. One of his colleagues in the world of science, Dr. Sumitra,  was about to be married.  She is a close friend of ours and very much wanted us to attend her wedding.  Both of us, plus the four kids.  Problem!

Her wedding was in Kanpur where Yash works.  Dragging four kids to the next city for a wedding is not joke.  Yash is not a person who can carry tension well.  Yes, trains are available, but the hassle of bringing four kids through the busy city to the railway station, not to mention the hassle of getting out at and travelling across another busy city to the marriage venue – the thoughts of negotiating the whole thing and taking care of the kids filled us with terror.  Then Yash hit upon a bright idea!  Hire a taxi.

Instead of all that hustle and bustle, we could just spend some cash and get picked up at our door, drive to the marriage venue in the next city and  stay for the evening (most Indian marriages are held at night). Then instead of staying the night in the hotel, just get in the car and get driven home.  Sure, it would cost a bit.  But for Yash and me, convenience and freedom from tension is sometimes much more imortant than money.

The drive to the venue was smooth and filled with excitement and anticipation.  The hired car comfortably whizzed through the countryside – although  highly populated, our state, Uttar Pradesh, is full of picturesque greenery.  The drive was a joy.    On arrival, we were given the use of a room to freshen up and change.  Then we joined in and got carried away with the festivities.

Between one thing and another, we ended up having our dinner around midnight.  But then so did everyone else.  The bride and groom prepared themselves for the ceremony.  Although they’d been dressed up since evening and had been present at the feast, the actual ceremony could not take place until the stars were in the exact configuration required.  As they got ready to start, Yash tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that the car was waiting.  We gathered the kids and headed off.  It was around 1.30 am.

The drive to the wedding as a pleasure.  The drive home was not.  We slept as the car drove through the night at full speed.  I hate sleeping in cars.  Where’s the comfort?  It induces a sick, groggy feeling which takes hours to shake off.  We reached home in the early hours of the next morning.    Then again, the train would have been ten times more inconvenient.  I had one kid sleeping on each shoulder and there were a few heads on my lap too.  A  lot safer than the train where we would have been spread over different seats.

We had to tolerate a few catty remarks about being extravagant with money., but I have no regrets.  This was one wedding that we had to attend.  With the pressure of bringing our children along, safety and convenience has to win over money every time

This post originally appeared on my blog Write Away as a Writing Workshop Assigment.


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