Prologue:
This is the story of Divya, a typical Indian woman whose life changed rapidly and in unimaginable ways within a couple of years. Let me start at the beginning.
Divya was born in a small town in Madhya Pradesh in a conservative middle class household. From childhood, Divya was recognized as very good looking. She was fair-skinned, had thick straight hair, and had sharp features and big eyes. Her parents and grandparents, wary of how the society preys pretty women, became extra protective of her.
As it is, small towns in India are conservative with very little open mixing between sexes, no night life, and clothing that covers the female body completely. Add to it Divya's protective family, and the girl was essentially a beautiful songbird caged up for life.
And that's how Divya grew up, under the watchful eye of her old-fashioned family. She was forbidden from playing with boys or even befriending them soon after she hit puberty. Her only friends were other girls from families as orthodox as hers. And she was put in an all-girls school. Her teenage life was pretty much going to school, then coming home and spending time with her family.
After Divya finished high school, she meekly expressed a desire to go to college. Since she was always home, she studied well, and got good grades. She wanted to become a doctor or an engineer like most Indians. But her father and grandfather were of the opinion that these aren't the right professions for a woman. Plus there was no good engineering or medical college within a 50 km radius.
If Divya's father could have his way, he would get her married right away. But the world had changed. His friends told him that a girl who hasn't gone to college doesn't get much demand from good families. So he decided to let her go to the nearby women's college which offered only commerce courses.
At 21, Divya graduated from college, now flowered into a beautiful voluptuous woman. Whenever she went out, people cast her second, third, and fourth glances. Once a young man followed her home from college. Her cousins caught hold of him and beat him up.
This made Divya's family decide to get her married right away. All the matchmakers and pundits known to the family were summoned. Her horoscope was drawn up and her portfolio was taken. And the groom hunt was in full swing.
It didn't take too long. Given how beautiful she was, that wasn't surprising. Within three weeks, Divya's wedding had been fixed. To the very first guy who came home to see her.
Mayank was an ideal match for Divya in every way. He was from the same caste. He was good-looking and tall. He was from a good family. And most importantly, he and his family lived in America where they owned several businesses. They had shifted there from Bhopal when Mayank was 10 years old.
From Mayank and his family's perspective too, Divya was the ideal match. Although he had spent over half his life in America, Mayank was still very Indian at heart, and his family was very conservative. He knew that he wanted a wife from India, not one of the ABCD Indian women with a lot of attitude.
Plus, although Mayank was good-looking, he was shy by nature. He had never really been able to mix with girls from his school or college days in America. He had slept with only one woman, that too when he was 22 years old, with a Mexican maid fifteen years older than him who worked in their motel.
A woman as gorgeous as Divya would not have given him the time of the day in America. But thanks to Indian tradition and the institution of arranged marriage, Mayank was assured of a hot woman to sleep with for the rest of his life. That she was quiet, docile, traditional, and could cook was an added bonus. As soon as he saw her pictures, Mayank had pestered his family to fly with him to India right away to meet her.
Mayank and his family said yes. Divya's family was delighted. They asked Divya, just as a formality. She was too much of a docile cat to think on her own. She said yes. The wedding date was set for four months away. Mayank and his family flew back to Texas where they lived. Divya's family started making wedding preparations.
Until this stage, Divya's life story was going the way it was meant to. Docile, risk-free, traditional. It might have continued that way too. But it was Mayank who unwittingly changed it all.
Read on to find out how.
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Chapter 1: The First Step of Degeneracy
Mayank flew back to Texas and told all his friends that he was getting married. He carried several pictures of Divya on his phone and proudly showed them off to everyone. His friends were all surprised at how gorgeous a bride their shy friend had managed to bag.
"You are lucky, yaar." his friend Jay said. "So how was the taste?"
"Taste? What do you mean taste?"
"I mean you must have done at least something."
"You mean physically?"
"Then what else? Spiritually?"
"Dude, I tried to get permission to take her out alone. But you known our community. Plus she is from a tiny town. Her parents said, she will be yours after the marriage anyway. Till then let her spend time with us."
"Damn. So you've not even touched her?"
"Sigh, no."
Mayank stared at a particularly gorgeous pic of Divya taken from side view.
"If I had gotten to spend some time alone with her." Mayank said. "I'd have squeezed those boobs. They seem quite ample."
"From whatever little the pics indicate, yeah dude. Bhabhi seems stacked."
"Oh well. In a few months."
"You can get at least a trailer."
"What do you mean?"
"You fool, what century are you living in? This is 2014. Tell her to get topless on cam for you."
"I don't know, dude. She is pretty conservative."
"That makes it even easier. She has been brought up to think of you as her lord and master."
"True."
Although the idea seemed practical, putting it into action turned out to be tougher than expected.
Mayank and Divya spoke on Skype everyday. But the computer in Divya's home was in the living room and there was always someone around her. She had a phone, but it wasn't a smartphone. All this wasn't by accident. Divya's father, ever paranoid about the dangers of technology, had made sure she didn't have too much private access to means by which she could get corrupted.
Finally Mayank sent Divya an SMS.
"I want to talk to you when you are alone. No one around. Call me when that's possible."
Divya smiled. It seemed like a very romantic request to her. Shielded from the opposite sex her whole life, Divya's concepts of love, marriage, romance etc came solely from novels, movies, and TV shows. She thought maybe Mayank wanted to read her a poem he had written for her.
Every afternoon after lunch, most members of Divya's household took a nap. That's when she could go to the verandah and speak to Mayank. So she sms-ed him back that she could call him at 1:30 PM India time. That was very late for Mayank in Texas but considering what was at stake, he decide to stay up.
"Divya...I want to Skype with you one on one. When you don't have your family around." he said when she finally called.
"Okay...but how? That's the only computer at home."
"Don't you have any friends with computers and a net connection who don't have an entire airplane load's worth of people at home?"
"Hehe, no. They all are similar."
Mayank was stymied. Then he suddenly remembered something. When he was in their town to see Divya, he had to send an urgent document for a business deal. The net was down in their hotel. So he had gone to a net cafe.
It was a big net cafe with private booths. And he remembered that they all had webcams and the speed was pretty decent.
"Chat with me from that netcafe in Laxmanbag."
"Netcafe? I have never been to a net cafe." Divya warily said.
"It's just a netcafe. Not a lion's den." Mayank said, annoyed.
"Let me ask papa."
"No need to ask papa. I am practically your husband. Just go."
"But..."
