Chapter 1: Priya Returns to Trabbia

The heat and humidity hit Priya Raman hard as she exited the air-conditioned terminal of Pranda International Airport to get the airport bus to take her to her hotel in downtown Pranda, the capital of Trabbia. It was especially noticeable because it was November and had been chilly when she left home. Priya had come through this airport approximately 15 years ago as an undergraduate at Dorsbury College. Back then, when her last name had been Narayan, she had come with her professor, Susan Gelden, and two fellow students, Jennifer Collins and Sarah Motello, for a summer research project excavating the ancient Cheronian ruins at Mongha.

Trabbia had, and still had, a policy of administering severe corporal punishment to those charged with minor crimes, females included. Priya and her friends had questioned that policy, and, in order to show them its effectiveness, they had been invited to visit a facility where such punishments were administered. The warden, Noba, had allowed them to watch two college students, similar to themselves, being caned for possession of a small amount of marijuana. Later, the American students and their professor had found themselves in violation of Trabbian law and been caned and, subsequently, whipped, despite their attempts to get out of punishment by providing sexual favors to various Trabbian officials. While they knew she had been to Trabbia for the archaeology project, neither her husband, parents nor employers, knew about Priya having been flogged there.

In the intervening years, Priya had completed college and medical school and done a residency and become a staff physician in the ER at a hospital near Dorsbury. She had also married a great guy, Sanjay Raman, who remained back in the US, trying to finish a project that was critical to the IT consulting company he ran.

About a year ago, the state where Priya lived had instituted corporal punishment for minor offenses, similar to Trabbia. Burned out by the long hours in the ER, but also remembering the strong feelings that the floggings she had seen and experienced in Trabbia had stimulated, Priya had quit the hospital and taken a job as the Staff Physician at the Female Corporal Punishment Facility in Dorsbury.

In the course of that job, faced with many addicts who had committed crimes, Priya launched a program to divert them for treatment prior to giving them their canings. The preliminary data suggested that this greatly reduced the frequency at which such offenders had to be re-caned for failing the blood test administered as part of the procedure. The Trabbians had heard about Priya's work and, having their own problems with substance abuse, had invited her to visit and present her findings.

As the taxi made its way through the traffic, Priya admired the modern skyscrapers and lush, well-appointed parks of Pranda. On her previous visit, they had gone straight to the Mongha ruins, intending to explore Pranda on their way home. Instead, after their floggings, they had been taken straight to the airport and put on a plane for Bangkok. Now, Priya had a couple of days at leisure before her meetings with the people from the Ministry of Justice.

The hotel arranged by her hosts was a very luxurious 25-story building. They had arranged a room on an upper floor, with an expansive view of the entire city and the surrounding rain forest. Priya relaxed in the large whirlpool tub and put on some fresh clothes suited to the climate, a sundress and sandals. She checked the various restaurant reviews on-line and chose a well-recommended place nearby that served excellent Trabbian food. It was as quite delicious, savory and rich, leaving a tingling in her mouth. Walking there, she noticed how clean the streets were. "They probably cane people for littering," she thought.

After that, Priya took the very modern and efficient subway to the National Museum of Antiquities. There was a large display there of artifacts from the ruins at Mongha, which looked quite familiar to Priya. She wondered how many had been dug up by her and her colleagues. She noticed that one of the people credited with arranging the exhibit was her old professor who had taken her here, Susan Gelden. It was strange to think that she was still involved with Trabbia after what had happened. But then Priya thought about the fact that she herself was here.

Back at the hotel, Priya sent Sanjay an email telling him about her arrival and what she had seen, had a quick dinner at a nearby place and fell into bed, tired from the jet lag of the long series of flights to reach Trabbia.

The next morning, Priya decided she would spend the day relaxing, preparing for her meetings with the Trabbians tomorrow. She booked a massage at the hotel spa for four PM, then spent the day wandering around the city, buying a few presents for Sanjay and her parents and having another very nice lunch. After that, she took a nap in her room and sent an email to her boss telling him she had arrived and was looking forward to meeting her Trabbian colleagues.

By then it was almost four, so Priya went down to the hotel spa. The massage was great, probably even better than what she was used to at home. After another excellent dinner near the hotel, Priya slept very well.