I think Taylor Swift said it best, “I am not the kind of girl, who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion…” but to be fair I wasn’t. It was his reception, not his actual wedding, the bride doesn’t wear a white veil in Indian Weddings, and “he” is my favorite Bollywood actor and dancer.

In India I am staying in New Delhi, which is the capital, and also about 30 minutes away from Gurgaon, also known as the Millenium City. Rumor had it that Shahid Kapoor was hosting his wedding reception with Mira, I don’t know her last name, at The Oberoi Hotel in Gurgaon, which is one of the most luxurious hotels in the world according to Forbes. There’s no way that I would give up the chance to meet him, I’d have to be crazy.

So this was the plan. My friend and I would dress up like we’re attending the wedding but forgot our invitation, while my cousin would pretend to be a tourist who is checking into the hotel. Great Idea right?! Okay so maybe it wasn’t, but I was growing desperate. I was not going to spend the rest of my summer regretting that I didn’t take a chance and go to this hotel. Besides, what is life without A LOT of adventure?

But luck was not on my side today, because I had no means of transportation to get to this hotel because both the drivers were busy doing other stuff. I was not about to take a rickshaw or a dinky taxi to this hotel of kings, and risk getting my outfit messed up. But, of course, thank god for Uber. In New Delhi, there are two different types of Uber cars: UberX and UberBLACK… as much as I wanted to ride in an uberBLACK car, which is the more high end mode of transportation, we are three university attending teenagers who make an average of 0 in terms of income; so uberX it is.

We weren’t actually sure about the logistics of the event: we didn’t know when it started or finished, we just knew it was at this luxurious hotel. We obviously couldn’t be the first ones there… so we decided 9 was a good time to go  9 turned into 9:30 and we finally made it out the door, and we were finally en route.

Not going to lie I was so excited: first of all, I love dressing up, so any opportunity to do so, I can’t afford to lose. Second of all, I might actually get to meet the guy that’s in all the posters in my room!! … as a disclaimer, these posters were from 6th grade and back then, he was only 26, what a beautiful age. Not to mention my grandparents keep joking and saying “I’m next!!” in the family to get married… and how great would it be if I could just take the girls place…. ha ha I kid (kinda). But I was determined to meet him… I had to!!

There was soo much traffic, but after 45 minutes of constant honking and a slight headache, we reached the gorgeous Oberoi Hotel! My cousin got off before us two did, so we don’t look likr we were together… what planning we did!

Anyway, we entered the hotel and my god it was beautiful!! This is one of the few blog posts that I’m going to attach a link because I can’t even begin to give justice to the beauty of this hotel!

The lobby was straight out of a magazine and even the people who worked there seemed like they owned multi-billion dollar companies. And there I saw it! There was a ballroom where I’m sure is where he was… there was no sign but the guards outside were a clue.

I couldn’t believe it. There was only one door between me and a CELEBRITY RECEPTION. So, I switched into character.

Okay here is a Confidence Hack, that my friend Katie told me!! Think of your favorite celebrity, think of their attitude, their walk, the way they carry themselves, etc… and become them. It sounds crazy but it works. I imagined I was Deepika Padukone and I strutted down that hotel lobby like I was the guest of honor and everyone was waiting for me. I was soo ready to walk in that door and make an appearance… until.

Of course the bodyguards happened. “Invitation?” One word, that shattered my dreams. Of course. Was I dumb? This isn’t some dinky wedding, it was a high profile event… regardless I stuck to the plan. Or tried to anyway. My Hindi was horrible. Thank god my friend’s wasn’t. “Soo.. invitation?” I asked my friend.
“Yeah about that. First of all, her hindi is horrible, (which by the way, so unnecessary, I’m not THAT bad) so I’ll do the talking. I’m a friend of Mira’s, I go to her University, but unfortunately we misplaced our invitation. My invitation clearly stated that I am allowed to bring a guest and I thought, hey Sandhya is visiting from America, why not take her?!” At that point, I had no choice but to stand there and smile politely and squeak out a high pitched “hello!”

The three guards just stared at me with blank looks on their faces. Any other day I would take them, but these weren’t scrawny random people off the street, these bodyguards looked like wrestlers. Naturally, my friend turned around and said “alright let’s go” but there was no way I was giving up this easily.

Meanwhile, my cousin as at the desk pretending to be checking in under her name, “I confirmed it last week, it has to be there” to which the receptionist seemed kind of embarrassed she couldn’t locate her reservation, she might have been new.

The guards were ready to call security, but I started pleading, “PLEASEE!! I’ve come from America for only three weeks and want to meet Shahid Kapoor!! You can escort me in and watch me, all I want is a picture!! I promise! If I do anything else then you can arrest me, I PROMISE!”  At that point the entire lobby went quiet, and my friend exclaimed “Sandhya!! What the hell!” But there was absolutely no stopping me at this point. I grabbed one of the bodyguard’s hand, and begged “PLEASEEEE YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND!” Yet he did not budge. I don’t even think he blinked when I was creating such a scene in front of him.

“No Ma’am, I’m sorry” is all he said. Then it hit me, I was going about this the wrong way… OBVIOUSLY, I had to give him money. I pulled out a ripped 1000 Rupee bill. The way he looked at me was probably the way you look at a 17 year old trying to buy alcohol. He continued and said “if you leave now, I won’t call security… and take the girl who’s faking a reservation with you!”

So basically: he was onto us and our plan had failed. “Come on Sandhya, let’s go” my friend had said. The smallest of the three bodyguards said, “Yes. Good Idea. Leave. And take your crazy friend with you,” to which I exclaimed “I’m not crazy!!”

That was when all hell basically broke loose. “Listen. You have one minute to get off the premises before we call hotel security and backup and have you escorted. There are tons of people like you, I must commend you for dressing up though”

So we left. The three discouraged fans who just wanted to see their favorite actor. Well, in reality it was only me being desperate and dragging these two into my shenanigans.

To be honest, I don’t even know if Shahid Kapoor was in there.

Maybe I got the wrong hotel, maybe he wasn’t even in the city.

Even though I didn’t get to meet him, it was an experience I’ll never forget, and maybe next time I crash a wedding I should print out a fake invitation to seem better prepared.

Anyway, until next time!

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xo

Sandhya