“It’s getting late! The cab is going to be here any minute,” my dad shouted from the living room, trying to hurry everyone to get ready to leave for the airport. Summer break was going on and I hadn’t woken up before 10 AM for the past couple of weeks. Waking up at 4 AM to get to the airport was a challenge, but I still managed to do so because I was excited to go to India and see my relatives; and because the main reason for my visit was to attend my uncle’s wedding.

Every time our family went on vacation, the day before we left was always chaos. It was either my mom shouting at us and telling us to finish packing and close all the windows or my brother and I fussing over small things. This time was no different. By the time we all got out of the house, the cab driver, who had come on time, had almost left because we were taking too long. Once we got to the airport things were smooth. No hassle or complication, just a sixteen-hour flight to India.

Getting received at the airport by your favorite cousins is one of the best feelings in life. Everyone had changed a lot since we last met with them. A lot of hugs and kisses occurred before we headed to my grandparents’ house. On the way, we caught up on all the plans they made for us whilst we were there and for how we would help prepare for the wedding. Once we reached home, we were greeted by more relatives and had long conversations with everyone to catch up on how they were doing.

Everyone in the world should visit India at least once in their lifetime. It’s such a diverse country with beautiful human beings and various cultures. Food alone can make tears of joy roll down one’s cheek. An Indian wedding is the one place where you get to witness it all. An average Indian wedding is attended by a minimum of 200 guests and can take place over multiple days.  The food at an Indian wedding is a blessing from God. Served on a big banana leaf with at least fifteen food varieties and unlimited refills, the food is the best part of the wedding. To pull off such a big event, a lot of time and money are spent to make sure everything is perfect. Since there is a lot that is to be completed before the day of the wedding, booking the banquet hall, catering, and decorating are split among the adults. The kids are also expected to help in small ways such as filling the goodie bags and giving them away to the people who attend the wedding.

The day of the wedding arrived and the whole house was up by 5 AM and ready to go to the banquet hall to welcome the guests. Everything was perfectly executed. The banquet hall was decorated profusely and beautifully with flowers that looked colorful that smelled powdery. We could tell that something special was going to take place that day. Once all the guests arrived the bride and the groom were called up to the stage. My brother and I walked our uncle to the stage and stood next to him and soon the bride followed with her flower girls. The ceremony began and everything was going well, but when it was time for my uncle to tie the knot around the bride to confirm their marriage, I noticed tears rolling down the bride’s face. People say when you get married you tend to shed a little tear of joy, but the tears on the bride’s face felt odd to me. I let the feeling slide and celebrated the auspicious occasion. My family and I flew back home a few days later.

A few weeks passed and one fine morning my mom got a call from my uncle.

“I don’t know what to do.  I’m sitting at a random bus stop thinking about my life decisions. I think my wife is cheating on me. Please help!” said my uncle to my mom.

“Don’t worry. We will figure it out together,” mom, trying to console my heartbroken uncle while crying at the same time. We found out that the bride had been cheating on my uncle from the beginning, from the engagement till the wedding day. She was in love with another man and used my uncle for his money. She made him pay her rent and buy her new things, all while she was deeply in love with another man. Huge fights broke out between families, and my uncle ended up divorcing her.

Marriages are of two types: love marriages and arranged marriages. In a love marriage

two people fall deeply in love with each other and decide to get married while in an arranged marriage two families come together and decide that their children will get married to each other. About ninety percent of marriages in India are arranged, like my uncle’s.

 I would say arranged marriages are like the Titanic. Big, strong, and able to sail through any weather condition, but a small iceberg can make it disappear into the ocean depths. Love marriage is like a raft on a river. Small, sturdy, and able to stay upright no matter how strong the stream is but only able to satisfy the needs of a few. A lot of people in India claim an arranged marriage is the better of the two because the statistics say so, bringing fewer divorces, happier families, and more financial security. Others claim that a love marriage is better than an arranged marriage because the couples have already formed a deep connection and know each other well, so it’s easier for them to maintain a healthy relationship and love has no place in an arranged marriage. I believe, however, that love has a place in an arranged marriage, and the love formed after marriage is stronger and can last longer than the love formed before marriage simply because I think it’s hard to find love in an arranged marriage, but once it’s established it can’t be broken.

My parents and grandparents have arranged marriages and are still happily married. With my uncle, I think it was just bad luck or a rare fluke because today my uncle is happily married to another beautiful human being, and they have a one-year-old named Roshni (Sunshine) who happens to boss around everyone and keeps us all busy around her.