Separated by IndiGo cancellation: Stranded newlyweds attend Hubballi reception via online
The couple had married on November 23 in Bhubaneswar, with a formal reception planned in the bride’s hometown on December 3. Tickets were booked well in advance: Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru, and then Bengaluru to Hubballi on December 2. But on Tuesday morning, the travel plan collapsed.
- Dec 5, 2025,
- Updated Dec 5, 2025 2:40 PM IST
In an unusual scene that summed up the scale of India’s ongoing aviation crisis, a newlywed couple in Karnataka was forced to attend their own wedding reception virtually after repeated IndiGo flight cancellations left them stranded over 1,200 km away.
What was meant to be a joyous celebration at Gujarat Bhavan in Hubballi turned into an improvised digital ceremony on Wednesday, as Medha Kshirsagar from Hubballi and her husband Sangama Das from Bhubaneswar, both Bengaluru-based software engineers, watched their reception unfold on a screen — fully dressed but stuck in Odisha.
Reception without bride & groom
The couple had married on November 23 in Bhubaneswar, with a formal reception planned in the bride’s hometown on December 3. Tickets were booked well in advance: Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru, and then Bengaluru to Hubballi on December 2.
But on Tuesday morning, the travel plan collapsed.
Their IndiGo flight — initially delayed from 9 am — kept getting pushed back for nearly 20 hours. By 4 am the next day, the flight was cancelled altogether. Several relatives flying via the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai-Hubballi route faced the same fate.
By then, invitations had gone out, guests had arrived, decorations were in place, and food had been prepared. There was no turning back.
Parents take their seats
With no couple to lead the rituals, Medha’s parents stepped in, occupying the seats reserved for the bride and groom so the ceremonies could proceed.
“We felt terrible,” the bride’s mother said. “We had invited so many relatives. Cancelling everything was impossible. After discussing as a family, we decided the couple would join online, and we projected them onto a big screen.”
From a decorated room in Bhubaneswar, the newlyweds dressed in their reception attire and connected via video call as guests waved, posed for photos, and blessed them from afar.
Larger crisis
The disrupted celebration is just one among thousands of travel plans upended this week as IndiGo battles one of the worst operational breakdowns in its history.
The airline has cancelled hundreds of flights across major airports — including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhopal, and Jaipur — after failing to rework its rosters in line with new pilot duty norms. A nationwide pilot shortage has intensified the crisis.
On Thursday alone, IndiGo cancelled more than 500 flights — its highest-ever in a single day in two decades of operations. The carrier operates roughly 2,200 daily flights.
An overwhelmed IndiGo has asked aviation regulator DGCA for temporary relaxations in duty-time rules and indicated that flight operations may only stabilise by February 10 next year.
From stranded tourists and delayed medical trips to disrupted business travel, stories of chaos have flooded social media. But the Kshirsagar-Das reception has emerged as one of the most poignant examples of how deeply the ongoing aviation disruption is affecting ordinary lives.
For the couple, the virtual gathering was far from the dream reception they had imagined. But amid apologies, laughter, and video-call blessings, the family tried to make the best of an impossible situation.
“It was not how we envisioned it,” the bride’s mother said, “but at least we could celebrate together — even if it was through a screen.”
In an unusual scene that summed up the scale of India’s ongoing aviation crisis, a newlywed couple in Karnataka was forced to attend their own wedding reception virtually after repeated IndiGo flight cancellations left them stranded over 1,200 km away.
What was meant to be a joyous celebration at Gujarat Bhavan in Hubballi turned into an improvised digital ceremony on Wednesday, as Medha Kshirsagar from Hubballi and her husband Sangama Das from Bhubaneswar, both Bengaluru-based software engineers, watched their reception unfold on a screen — fully dressed but stuck in Odisha.
Reception without bride & groom
The couple had married on November 23 in Bhubaneswar, with a formal reception planned in the bride’s hometown on December 3. Tickets were booked well in advance: Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru, and then Bengaluru to Hubballi on December 2.
But on Tuesday morning, the travel plan collapsed.
Their IndiGo flight — initially delayed from 9 am — kept getting pushed back for nearly 20 hours. By 4 am the next day, the flight was cancelled altogether. Several relatives flying via the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai-Hubballi route faced the same fate.
By then, invitations had gone out, guests had arrived, decorations were in place, and food had been prepared. There was no turning back.
Parents take their seats
With no couple to lead the rituals, Medha’s parents stepped in, occupying the seats reserved for the bride and groom so the ceremonies could proceed.
“We felt terrible,” the bride’s mother said. “We had invited so many relatives. Cancelling everything was impossible. After discussing as a family, we decided the couple would join online, and we projected them onto a big screen.”
From a decorated room in Bhubaneswar, the newlyweds dressed in their reception attire and connected via video call as guests waved, posed for photos, and blessed them from afar.
Larger crisis
The disrupted celebration is just one among thousands of travel plans upended this week as IndiGo battles one of the worst operational breakdowns in its history.
The airline has cancelled hundreds of flights across major airports — including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhopal, and Jaipur — after failing to rework its rosters in line with new pilot duty norms. A nationwide pilot shortage has intensified the crisis.
On Thursday alone, IndiGo cancelled more than 500 flights — its highest-ever in a single day in two decades of operations. The carrier operates roughly 2,200 daily flights.
An overwhelmed IndiGo has asked aviation regulator DGCA for temporary relaxations in duty-time rules and indicated that flight operations may only stabilise by February 10 next year.
From stranded tourists and delayed medical trips to disrupted business travel, stories of chaos have flooded social media. But the Kshirsagar-Das reception has emerged as one of the most poignant examples of how deeply the ongoing aviation disruption is affecting ordinary lives.
For the couple, the virtual gathering was far from the dream reception they had imagined. But amid apologies, laughter, and video-call blessings, the family tried to make the best of an impossible situation.
“It was not how we envisioned it,” the bride’s mother said, “but at least we could celebrate together — even if it was through a screen.”