Life completes a full circle . I’ve now reached a stage where I attend more weddings than dinner parties. This time round it’s not my contemporaries who are getting married but their children . It’s fun seeing these once-upon-a-time toddlers walk down the aisle as it were and go round and round the holy fire.

Despite my normal reticence, I look forward to these events. It’s great to meet old friends, try exotic foods, quaff a few glasses of wine and observe new trends in society. Of late I’ve observed a strange phenomenon : NOT seeing the bride at her OWN WEDDING RECEPTION!

(At least for not as long as I was there).

It is almost a national characteristic to stretch time and arrive fashionably late to any event. Hence , if you’re invited to a function that starts at 8 pm you’d do well to show up at least half an hour later. Unfortunately, my family follows the clock to the last second and we are always ON TIME EVERY TIME.

This doesn’t really bother us and we’ve now become accustomed to being greeted by the staff who are putting the last bow in place. We’ve also become adept at merging with the walls as the hosts walk in, trying not to embarrass them with their late arrival.

Nothing, however, prepared me for this wedding season when I didn’t see the bride at all.

It’s happened at three receptions now. At the first , the bride came in an hour later than I did and mingled so seamlessly with the crowd that no one even knew she had arrived.

At yet another, the bridal couple came two hours after the parents of the groom who were hosting the party. Incidentally the parents themselves came half an hour later. Sadly, we had to leave early so we just congratulated the hosts and left the party, bridal couple unseen.

And at the third reception, the bride simply refused to show up as she had just had a raging fight with the groom and was in mood to smile and shake hands with strangers like me.

So I was happy to attend the latest wedding reception where things were done the old fashioned way : the couple stood on a podium and their parents stood alongside. It was nice to go up to the bridal couple, shake hands with the bride and groom and wish them a long, happy and prosperous wedded life!

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Did you miss me ?

Everybody needs a break. And even though it’s the beginning of the year , I’m exhausted.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m deliberately going easy on my blogging this year.

Today, I want to see how many of you actually missed me . I’m participating in International Blog Delurking Week 2018, an initiative started by Mel of stirrup-queens. This year Parul has taken it forward and designed the badge .

I was intrigued by the concept of finding out how many people actually visit and comment and those who just lurk around and leave without leaving their mark. In the last two years that I’ve participated, no one bothered to even leave a comment.

This year, I hope some of you stop by and leave a comment.

Linking this up with #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne of everydaygyan.