turned out, he did. I had told my mother of him, of course. And although she was wary, my father and uncle, whose family live with us, put her at ease. Darshan Tambe was so far above what they had expected for me that unless he was unworthy of his family’s excellent reputation, we had nothing to fear. Either Darshan would cut off our flourishing friendship and marry another, or he would persuade them to accept me. Whichever it was, unless I put myself in a compromising position, I couldn’t be harmed. I would know soon enough which it was.”
Tracy poured and passed water around the circle. “Since you didn’t marry him, this didn’t turn out well.”
Janya sounded as if she were reciting a story she had gone over and over. “Darshan told his family he wanted to marry me. I wasn’t told what transpired, but they agreed. I accepted, of course, and our families met and made the engagement official. Plans were begun for a wedding. Although Darshan’s father asked that no official dowry be given, the wedding itself must be an occasion to be remembered by the many, many people who would be invited.”
“A big, fat Indian wedding,” Wanda said. “I saw that movie, or something like it.”
“Mr. Tambe made it clear that once Darshan and I were wed, he would make certain my father’s accounting firm was never overlooked when state contracts were awarded. My father had visions of more work than he could handle, all well-paid. An elaborate wedding was an investment.”
“Oh, boy, this is starting to sound familiar,” Tracy said. “Dress me up in a sari, and we could be twins. I won’t even tell you what my wedding cost.”
“So many arrangements had been made, so much money had been paid, so many people had been told. I was so happy. Darshan wanted to stay in Mumbai and practice in the firm where he was getting practical experience. With his family’s connections and his father’s position, when he graduated it would only be a short time before he began to make a name for himself.”
“I can’t stand this!” Wanda waved her hand. “What in the heck happened to this paragon of perfection?”
Janya wasn’t smiling. “Three months before our wedding, Darshan and his parents arrived at our home carrying Darshan’s laptop computer. There were few preliminaries. His father went to the Internet and logged on to a social networking site, one that’s very popular in India. There was my photo and information. But not just one photo. Many, many photos, showing me in an equal number of unacceptable situations. Me drinking in a mixed crowd. Me looking as if I’d had too much to drink. Me nearly undressed, making eyes at the camera.”
“How?” Tracy demanded.
“Some of the photos were familiar. Padmini and I had joked about what we would put on such a site if we were ever tempted to join one. We had pretended we were not from families that would be scandalized by such a thing. We had pretended, making up names and taking silly pictures of each other with Padmini’s digital camera. She asked me to look at the camera the way I would look at Darshan when we were finally alone after the wedding.”
“So you told them the truth and they understood?” Wanda said. “I’m betting…no.”
“I protested, of course. I got my own laptop to show that I had no links to such a site, that someone had done this to me. I even explained how some of the photos had been manipulated, that the face might be mine but that I did not own clothing like that in the photo. I was an art student, so I knew.”
Tracy twisted the top back on the water bottle with more strength than she needed. “And they couldn’t see that?”
“Even then, I couldn’t bring myself to believe the troublemaker was Padmini. I wanted to believe someone else had come across her computer, found the photos and done this mischief. But the proof was on my laptop. The site had been set up by ‘me,’ using my equipment. It was all right there. And then I knew Padmini had not been a sister to me at all. When I visited her, I had always taken my laptop with me, so I could e-mail Darshan.”
“Well, that little vixen,” Wanda said. “Let me guess, she wanted this Darshan person for herself.”
“You have more understanding than I did, Wanda. Then I could only think of getting everyone to