After Turkish boss scraps his wedding leave, Indian groom says 'I do' on video call

In an unconventional twist, a couple in Himachal Pradesh tied the knot virtually after the groom, Adnan Muhammad, was denied leave by his employer in Turkey to attend his wedding in India. Despite the groom’s desire to be physically present for his wedding in Mandi, his boss’s refusal to grant him time off led to an online nikaah. The couple's urgent decision to proceed with the wedding via video call came after the bride’s ailing grandfather expressed his desire to see the wedding happen soon.?

The virtual wedding

Adnan, originally from Bilaspur, had planned to travel to India for the wedding, but his boss in Turkey wasn’t on board with giving him time off. Facing the disappointing reality, the families quickly adapted to the situation by organizing the ceremony virtually. With the bride in Mandi and the groom in Turkey, the families worked together to ensure the couple could marry in front of loved ones. The ceremony was held on Monday, with a qazi overseeing the vows as the couple exchanged promises on a video call.

Terrible corporate policies

This wedding saga brings to light how corporate policies around leave are starting to interfere with personal milestones. The groom’s employer’s refusal to grant leave for such an important life event raised questions about the human cost of corporate culture, where work often outweighs personal happiness. It wasn’t the first time technology played a crucial role in a Himachal wedding either. Just last year, another couple was forced to get married virtually when their baarat got stranded due to severe landslides and flash floods. Talk about a modern love story!?

Workplace inflexibility is the new trend or what?

This incident mirrors a growing trend of workplace inflexibility, where employees struggle to take time off for personal reasons. A Mumbai-based investor recently shared a viral leave request from his Gen Z employee: a simple, blunt “I will be on leave on 8th Nov 2024. Bye.” It’s clear that leave requests these days have a dramatic flair, but with more and more personal milestones being overshadowed by work commitments, the tension between the corporate world and personal life is only escalating.