The most absurd reason my manager denied my leave

I am sitting here logging in on a Saturday just thinking about the absolute circus that is Indian corporate management Last month I applied for a simple three day leave for my first cousin's wedding. I gave a heads up weeks in advance and made sure all my tasks were neatly handed over to a teammate.

My manager called me into a quick sync and straight up told me that since I am not the groom my physical presence at the venue is just a "good to have" requirement and not a "mandatory deliverable". He literally suggested I ask my family for the event live stream link so I could watch the pheras on my phone while staying online for urgent escalations. I thought he was trying to be funny but he looked me dead in the eye and said the current project timeline was too critical for me to be eating paneer tikka with relatives.

The absolute delusion of mid level managers these days is actually scary. They genuinely believe our entire existence revolves around closing tickets and attending status calls. I obviously just nodded politely in the meeting and then called in sick on the actual days of the wedding. My phone stayed on airplane mode the entire time.