“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page, from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s location is Mumbai, India.
[1] Mehndi – elaborate designs in henna. It is believed that the more intense the colour, the more your husband will love you.
[2] Sangeet – the day before the wedding ceremony. Guests are received, and there is entertainment, often on a lavish scale.
Unwelcome Guests
The Juhu Club was a wonderful venue for Tarangi and Mithin’s wedding. Its walled gardens accommodated eight hundred guests without any sense of crowding. Two thousand rose bushes perfumed the evening breeze, whose gentle warmth was a caress. Scores of chefs, sommeliers and waiters ensured the guests were never without refreshment.
Tarangi glanced with delight at the mehndi[1] on her arms. Its darkness meant that Mithin would love her very much indeed. She exulted in the heavy gold jewellery that her father, Pralay Gangulay, had given to her at the start of this, her Sangeet[2]. It must be worth a fortune, she gloated. The metal glowed in the flickering light of the torches illuminating the scene.
“Thank you so much, Baba,” she said again, beaming at him.
But why were the police here? And who was this small, bespectacled man?
“Gangulay-sahib, I arrest you on charges of tax evasion.”
Note
Indians are no fonder of paying taxes than anybody else. To avoid detection they sometimes keep the money in cash and use it to pay for events such as an extravagant wedding.
Oh wow. Did not see that ending coming. Good story all around.
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Dear Josh
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad I managed to surprise you!
With best wishes
Penny
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So great to see you Penny! I didn’t see it coming either. Tarangi’s gloating days are behind her. Will her father go to jail, I wonder?
I can’t help but wonder if your story was inspired by your work in process. I hope all is going will with your novel!
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Dear Karen
Thank you for reading and for welcoming me back to warmly. Yes, the story was indirectly inspired by my work in progress. I had been researching weddings, and one of the websites I visited said that lavish weddings were often used as a route for laundering money. I said to myself, “Wouldn’t it be fun to write a story where the IRS(IT) carried out a raid during a wedding…I’ll do it if Pegman is in India this week. And then, this morning when I looked, there was Mumbai! Quite a coincidence, and I certainly couldn’t back out of the challenge, could I? Thank you so much for your timely prompt!
With very best wishes
Penny
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Wow that’s wild! So glad I did India this week.
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You do a lovely job of setting the scene with all the hope and grandeur, and then bang, give us that great twist at the end! How horrible for the police to nab the guy right there at his own daughter’s wedding, but I suppose they figure he’s surrounded by all the evidence they need so it’s the best time for them.
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Dear Joy
Thank you for reading and commenting. The jewellery and the extravagance were indeed the evidence that the IRS(IT) needed to sustain a charge of tax evasion. I’m glad you liked the scene setting. Poor Tarangi though – it wasn’t her fault!
With very best wishes
Penny
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I felt the same way for poor Tarangi — what an awful thing to happen just before her wedding.
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Oh surprise !!, what a definite dampener to the nights proceedings.
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Dear Ivor
Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, a raid by the revenue would certainly spoil a good wedding!
With very best wishes
Penny
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Always my pleasure, and I’m almost fit enough to do a bit of blogging 😃
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I’m glad to hear you’re getting better, and look forward to reading your blogposts in due course!
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weddings as a money laundering scheme. What will people think of next?
You capture her delight and self-congratulation very ably. She is about to be put down a notch, I think! Lovely picture.
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Dear Andi
Thank you for reading and commenting. I felt quite sorry for Tarangi. It wasn’t her fault that she was adorned with jewellery paid for with dodgy money!
With best wishes
Penny
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Oh, wow! You did such a nice job of “painting” the lovely wedding scene. Then, suddenly, everything is ruined. Nice ending!
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Dear Debra
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m pleased you found the ending satisfying.
With best wishes
Penny
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There are some fathers who will stop at nothing to give their daughters the best. Excellent write.
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Dear Violet
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re right about some fathers stopping at nothing. And, of course, there is considerable status to be gained from hosting a lavish wedding.
With very best wishes
Penny
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I saw it coming. Still, a great take.
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Dear Still Loved…Still Missed
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m almost relieved that you saw the twist coming. I have, in the past, been known to make the twist too abrupt, without sufficient foreshadowing. So thank you for the helpful comment!
With best wishes
Penny
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My word, that’ll wipe the smug smile from her face, as they confiscate her beloved jewellery! A very inventive spin on the pic, Penny and I loved your luxurious details too. Wouldn’t mind being invited to that do 🙂
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Dear Lynn
Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, I’m afraid poor Tarangi paid a high emotional price for her father’s criminality! As you say, an invitation to that do would have been the hottest ticket in town! 🙂
With very best wishes
Penny
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Sadly, families always seem to suffer as much as the guilty. My pleasure, Penny
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