‘There’s a great deal that’s funny about advice, though the halfwits too feel they have a great deal of advice to offer,’ said Tara reminiscently. ‘But on occasion, a naive suggestion might turn out to be the shrewdest advice. Well, when my father died, we were penniless, and my mother had no clue as to how to arrange for my dowry. Then someone came up with the suggestion that I could use my body to raise my dowry. Though my mother cried foul, finding it sensible under the circumstances, I went along with it. As you can see, I haven’t lost a wee bit for that weird advice.’
‘It reminds me of that Shakespearean quote,’ said Roopa in apparent awe. ‘Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, and vice sometimes by action dignified.’
‘It’s for you to decide what to do with your virtue under siege now,’ said Tara gravely.
‘Let me see what fate has in store for me,’ said Roopa melancholically.
‘But the irony is that others believe you’ve caved in already,’ said Tara to Roopa’s discomfiture, ‘Once, I overheard Lalitha’s sleazy remark that you could be barren, owing to the dilemma of your ovum, whether to let in Mr. Sperm X or Mr. Sperm Y.’
‘Oh, God,’ exclaimed Roopa in exasperation, ‘how people let their imagination run after absurd propositions! To tell you the truth, I’m in love, though not the fulfilled type.’
‘How I wish vice becomes virtue in your passion,’ said Tara, extending her hand to Roopa, ‘as and when it leads to possession.’
‘I can tell you that the one I’m eying,’ said Roopa dreamily, ‘has all the intellect for that.’
‘I always suspected that,’ said Tara affectionately, ‘and now I know the secret of your strength. But who’s that lucky guy, by the way?’
‘Can’t you guess?’ said Roopa joyously.
‘Maybe, yes,’ said Tara recalling the infatuation she herself felt for Raja Rao when they first met, ‘but won’t it sound sweeter hearing from the horse’s mouth.’
‘That’s for another day,’ said Roopa turning all the coyer, ‘and thank you for saving the day for me.’
‘That too to the hurt of my client,’ said Tara with a smile.
‘Oh, really,’ said Roopa, taking Tara’s hand. ‘Don’t I owe you even more for that?’
‘Well, I won’t insist on having your lover for a client for compensation,’ said Tara winking at Roopa.
‘Thanks for that as well,’ said Roopa, all smiles.
‘Godspeed to your liaison,’ said Tara kissing Roopa’s cheek, ‘but take care meanwhile. I don’t know why, but I always liked you.’