This story was originally written for my Media Law course at NYU-Poly. The assignment was to produce an artwork which raised a legal issue, in this case about the relationship between parody and copyright.

A caveat about the content. The main character, Bexx is supposed to be a charming but unsympathetic shopaholic. This story is ultimately a critique of her behaviour. HOWEVER, when writing with in her voice I compose words which progressives may condemn as “neo-colonialist”. I have done my utmost to tone down the offensive words and where-ever possible balance them with something positive. And for the record, Kolkata is an amazing city. My brief visit their had a profound impact on my view of the world.

That being said, if a reader has an issue with Bexx’s world-view and language – or identifies a factual error – please politely let me know your thoughts about how to rectify my indiscretion, bearing in mind my purpose, and the nature of my characters.

A final word, to motivate you to read the story to its conclusion. This story is a parable, with a of moral at the end. I’ve put a ton of thought into making that moral much less obvious than it appears. My questions for my readers are: “what lesson does Bexx learn during her visit?”, and “does her insight fundamentally change who she is?”