The Wedding is a novella by Redmond, Washington-based writer Vandana Nair. Nair has previously published the novel Punch and several short stories and reviews. She received her MFA from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writing Workshop.
The Wedding begins like a romance narrative. An infectious diseases physician, Ahilya Kapoor, who works for the WHO, is on her way home to Lucknow in India for a cousin’s wedding in February 2020. Her parents are pressuring her to marry because she is now in her mid-20s, and in some parts of India that is considered rather old to be a single woman. The parents are attempting to set her up with an Indian cardiologist with a practice in Harley Street, London, who happens to be the bridegroom’s cousin. Ahilya’s boss wants her to fly to the Maldives because there are reports of a virus spreading rapidly there that is like the one identified in Wuhan, China, and her expertise is needed to track and arrest the spread of this new virus that has the medical community baffled. Reading this novella in 2026, we know how the virus later named COVID-19 became a global pandemic that sent the world into a lockdown and resulted in over 7.1 million confirmed deaths globally, a number that the WHO estimates is probably closer to 20 million.
Initially, the narrative focuses on Ahilya’s extended family, the excited bride, Radhika, and the preparations for the different ceremonies like mehendi (henna), and haldi (turmeric ceremony) that lead up to the wedding ceremony in the middle of the night. Ahilya meets the cardiologist and is charmed by him but discovers that his family does not value her training and would rather she practice as an OB-GYN so she could also be the person who cared for the home and family. Ahilya is conflicted, and the reader expects that the story will follow the typical romance narrative trajectory of hurdles overcome that will culminate in a wedding.
However, a virus had other plans. The priest comes down with a high fever and dies suddenly midway through the wedding. Several members of the family are infected and many more have been exposed. Ahilya jumps into action, takes her aunt and uncle (the bride’s parents) to a hospital, directs the hospital staff on how to manage a potential outbreak, and sets up infection control protocols at the hotel where the wedding festivities are scheduled. As readers, we know that Ahilya is battling a problem much bigger than what her family or local medical professionals understand. What will happen to her potential romance? Will she marry the cardiologist? More importantly, will she go off to join her WHO team and lead the pandemic efforts in the Maldives?
The narrative is well-plotted and offers an interesting intertwining of the pandemic narrative with the marriage plot. The story is interwoven with references to Ahilyabai Holkar, an eighteenth-century Indian queen who, when widowed, stepped in to rule her kingdom and established educational institutions and public welfare projects during her reign. Her namesake queen serves as Dr. Ahilya Kapoor’s inspiration.
The Wedding is among the few contemporary narratives that tackles the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on individuals and families. As we may recall, India suffered devastating losses when the Delta variant swept through the country. By linking a woman-centered narrative with the story of the pandemic, Nair offers us a new take on our recent history suggesting that the struggle against the virus cannot be separated from the patriarchal family’s control of women. While the whole world faced the pandemic, each country’s response was rooted in its social and cultural structures. The novella is a quick and engaging read that invites us to reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on individual lives and the many men and women in the medical profession who fought it.
Nalini Iyer is a Professor of English at Seattle University where she teaches courses in Asian American, Postcolonial, and South Asian Studies. She is the author/editor of several books in literary criticism. She lives in Kirkland. WA.
