Episode 219 : The wedding invite

Location: Office.

Time: A few minutes past 8pm.

Actors: A colleague and I.

Scene: Colleague comes over to my desk and hands me an invitation card. I know it is his wedding invitation, but decide to tease him a little by pretending not to know.

In the darkness, I peer at the lettering on the card (office rules that all lights will automatically switch off at 8pm and you switch on lights you require), the light of the monitor helping me.

'Oh it's yours...'

'Yes, and you had better be there.'

'But I will be in Madras that day.'

'Go some other time!'

'Oh no! If I don't go, then the next time I go there my parents will give me a similar card and it will have my name on it...'

'So you are going home to prevent it?'

'Yeah.'

'Why?'

I pause for a moment and stretch my arms a bit. Lounging casually in my chair I say 'Well it's a choice. You see, if I choose to get married I cannot come and go as I please, or do what I please. No freedom, independence and all that... life will change.'

He stares at me for a few moments and walks away muttering something under his breath.

I wonder what made him go away like that and then... Oops!