The rumor was indeed that the Maharani's emeralds were bad luck; each person who had owned them never lived long enough to really enjoy them. They were beautiful, though, and close to priceless. Originally they had been brought over from South Africa, the property of an English duchess. The story further went that the jewels had also survived a trip on the ill-fated Titanic. The duchess had died of malaria at the age of thirty. Her family, remembering the curse, had disposed of them at an auction. The jewels made the rounds before they finally ended up with the Maharani. It is not known how long she had them; eventually they were sold when her estate was being liquidated.

At that time the emeralds were bought at great price by Homi Rustomji, a wealthy entrepreneur. He certainly did not believe in all the "superstitious rubbish" about curses and bad luck. He presented them to his daughter Roshan on her wedding day when she married Kal Greenwood, an American math professor, from a small town in Indiana. That certainly was quite a very lucky day for his spinster daughter!

It was rumored that the necklace had cost close to a million dollars. At least (another rumor stated) that is how much Homi Rustomji had paid to insure the baubles. This was a small fortune in India - far beyond the reach of most people. The emeralds on the necklace were flawless, each like a perfect little green marble.

Roshan wore the emerald necklace for her wedding, glowing, as a bride should. But she guarded her precious gift, moving aside from inquisitive hands that dared come too near to examine it. The closest anyone came to seeing it was in the huge photograph that appeared in the newspaper the next morning. Kal was the only one, besides Roshan's father, who actually got to hold it in his hands. In fact he was the one to remove it from Roshan's neck later that night, to place it in safekeeping in the vault in their bedroom. Kal was still in awe with the knowledge of all the wealth that was now his - the necklace was like rich icing on the cake.

(To be added)

(To be added)

The authors have magnanimously agreed to donate the entire profits of the book to CTR