HUBBALI: A newlywed couple were forced to attend their own wedding reception virtually after nationwide flight disruptions left them stranded in Bhubaneswar, over a thousand kilometres from their venue in Hubballi, news agency Megha Ksheerasagar and Sangam Das, software engineers based in Bengaluru, were scheduled to travel for their reception on 3 December.
But their IndiGo flight — delayed repeatedly from the morning of 2 December — was eventually cancelled as the airline’s ongoing operational crisis triggered massive disruptions across the country. With guests already arriving and the venue decorated, the couple appeared on a large screen at the reception hall through a video call. The event went ahead with the bride’s parents representing the newlyweds in person at Gujarat Bhavan, Hubballi. The couple had married on 23 November in Bhubaneswar and had booked tickets on the Bhubaneswar–Bengaluru–Hubballi route. Several relatives had also booked connections via Mumbai. All of those flights were either delayed for hours or cancelled. “My daughter’s wedding happened on November 23 and we had organised a reception at our native place in Hubballi for people here. The flight kept getting delayed and at the last moment, at around 4 am, it got cancelled,” the bride’s father, Anil Kumar Ksheerasagar, told PTI. “Now what could we do after that. We had to come up with some solution. Then I decided to do the reception online. I immediately arranged for a screen and asked my daughter and son-in-law to join the reception online,” he said. He urged the Union government to step in to ease the crisis. “What the problem with IndiGo is, we don’t know. My daughter and son-in-law were supposed to come via an IndiGo flight but that got cancelled. IndiGo alone can’t be blamed. The government must understand that it is in case of emergencies that people prefer flights. Some measures need to be taken to resolve this issue,” he said. “When the PM’s flight gets cancelled, he is taken by helicopter. Why is the same not done for us, the common people. We also have emergencies, don’t we. The government must think of this, and if they ignore public woes, they should remember that we are also VIPs because we pay tax.” Relatives had travelled from cities including Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bagalkote, Davangere and Belagavi. With no way for the couple to reach Hubballi, the bride’s parents performed the rituals while the couple, dressed for the occasion in Bhubaneswar, interacted with guests online. “I didn’t know what to do as relatives and guests had come from so many places. I was stressed, but then I quickly decided to do it online,” Ksheerasagar said. The incident is among several stories emerging as IndiGo’s disruptions — triggered largely by crew shortages — continue to upend travel plans across India.
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