IT was not the first time Mrinalini and Vikram had met. The Swaminathans were a well-known clan in the South.

Swaminadhan, Mrinalini's father had been a respected advocate at the Madras High Court. A man of liberal persuasions, he had encouraged his wife Ammu, to adopt a glamorous, modern lifestyle which she retained after his death, a bold move for a time when widows were condemned to a marginal existence. She had also entered politics and one of the people she had met in the course of her public work was Sarla Sarabhai. The two women had much in common: Like Mridula, Ammu's elder daughter Laxmi too was a fervent idealist and would become well known as 'Captain Laxmi Sehgal' of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, the squad of volunteers that planned to liberate India through military means.