{"id":5040,"date":"2016-08-02T11:53:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T15:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=5040"},"modified":"2020-08-02T23:35:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T03:35:03","slug":"dont-wear-red-to-an-indian-wedding-the-travels-and-trials-of-a-white-girl-in-india-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/dont-wear-red-to-an-indian-wedding-the-travels-and-trials-of-a-white-girl-in-india-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Wear Red to an Indian Wedding: The Travels and Trials of a White Girl in India, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
My story begins one evening in November on the sticky bar stools of a local pub in Manhattan.\u00a0 The pub, known as Biddy’s, was located just underneath my apartment.\u00a0 Since moving into the neighborhood earlier that year, it had become somewhat of a tradition that, on our evenings off, Gabby and I would meet at this local watering hole for few drinks and a few hours of heightened conversation. While most of our friends preferred the vibrant rush and sense of relevancy one gains by frequenting the bars in the village or the lower east side, we were happy to spend the money we saved on cab fare for a few extra drinks before stumbling our way home through the quiet residential streets of uptown manhattan.\u00a0 We were content to remain in the three-block universe we had created for ourselves, and to drink our nights away with the bartenders and regulars we had come to know by name.\u00a0 It was hard to imagine that these two girls, so hard pressed to venture out of the upper east side, would leave Biddy’s pub that evening with plans to travel much greater distances than a fifteen-dollar cab ride down the FDR.<\/p>\n
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We had become especially friendly that fall with one patron, a young Indian man named Guarav who shared our passion for trivia and cheap whiskey.\u00a0 Guarav had just returned from a month-long trip to India and was newly engaged to be married.\u00a0 This came as somewhat of a surprise, considering we had never seen Guarav with a woman, nor had he talked about any girlfriends he had left when he moved to America.\u00a0 It was an arranged marriage, he explained to us, and the wedding would take place in two months in India.\u00a0 He didn’t have many friends in New York, but he wanted Americans to attend his wedding.\u00a0 For what reason? This much was unclear.\u00a0 But he was very intent that Gabby and I should be in attendance.<\/p>\n