This incident, which happened in 2004, is still fresh in our memories. A group honeymoon that kick-started a tradition of group holidays. The cover pic was taken in 2019 on one of our group holidays.
No Privacy? No Problem! – The Spooked Groom Memories.
It was our fourth wedding anniversary, and we’d planned a holiday to celebrate. Joining us were a couple of close friends, one who had been married just two months, and another, newly married for only a week, who jumped in at the last minute after hearing about our trip.
“I haven’t planned a honeymoon yet,” he said. “It’ll be way more fun if we all go together!”
We weren’t so sure his brand-new bride would be thrilled about spending her honeymoon in a group setting, but he just shrugged it off. “Better to introduce her to our tight-knit friendship right away,” he grinned.
You see, we’d been friends since our school days, since 11th grade, to be exact. The kind of bond that’s rare and lasting, one that survives college, careers, marriages, and still thrives.
We finally decided on Coorg (or Madikeri) as the destination for what we jokingly called our “group honeymoon.”
We arrived on a misty afternoon and checked into a charming old building managed by KTDC. The place had a weathered charm, and the man at the reception barely looked up as he waved a young attendant in a white uniform to carry our bags.
Our rooms were on the first floor, two adjacent ones for us and the other couple, and a “honeymoon suite” at the end of the corridor for the newlyweds. We agreed to freshen up and regroup in the suite.
The suite was spacious and quickly became our go-to hangout spot for evening drinks after a day of sightseeing. As bedtime approached, the rest of us began to leave for our rooms when the newly married friend suddenly said, “Why don’t we all just sleep here tonight? There’s plenty of space.”
We looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Dude, this is your honeymoon. You really want all of us crashing here? Are you serious?”
He scratched his ear awkwardly. “Machan, just look at this room! The ceiling’s so high, and there’s a deep valley right outside the window. It feels like a horror movie setting. It’s spooky, da!”
We couldn’t stop laughing. We left him in the care of his amused bride and headed to our rooms.
Luckily, she fit into the group effortlessly. That trip kicked off a tradition we still follow, group holidays that now include more friends, their spouses, and even their children. Our circle’s grown, but the essence of our bond has stayed the same—deep, irreplaceable, and built to last.
PS. The new bride confided later that someone at the wedding had quietly warned her to be cautious of me. I guess I stood out, laughing loudly, joking around, mingling freely with the boys, who happened to be my dearest friends. To some, that was ‘unladylike.’ Honestly, it stung a bit, knowing I was judged for simply being myself. But what touched me deeply was that she, along with the partners of my friends and my husband Sujith, chose to see beyond the noise. They saw me, and embraced our friendship and who I truly am.
