SYNOPSIS: PASSIONS WITHIN-THE DARK HORSE

PASSIONS WITHIN-THE DARK HORSE

OJ flew to Tehran for his newfound job. Tehran was to his liking as well as it could be. He always lived in the present and not the past, as in right here, right now, no destiny, shear hard work and good deeds. He wanted to live the life as it would be nstead of as it was. He started to comprehend this new land, new culture and people and the new system of living. He kept his vistas as wide as possible at all times.

For OJ, the entire twist of fate was like a beautiful new tapestry of Iranian ethnicity and culture. A new dream world had opened up before OJ who had come out of India…

His interaction with the people of Iran brought him face-to-face with a rare beauty, an Iranian girl of exquisite looks. It did not take long for him to fall in love with her. He started learning Persian to communicate with her. She also started learning English. They had a jolly good time. Her parents liked OJ. Their religions were a little mismatched, he of Hindu persuasion whereas she of Moslem.

As far as, he was concerned he wasn’t orthodox. In fact he was practically an atheist, a nonbeliever. He didn’t much care about this religion or that religion or any particular type of religion as long as no one bothered him in his ways of doing things. He let it be known to Shireen, his Iranian girlfriend. Her parents started liking him a lot and ultimately offered him her hand for marriage, an offer he couldn’t resist.

During the week of all the arrangements, they decide to pay homage to ‘Allah’ and go to the great religious holy city of Qom. But then Providence works in a very mysterious way. The destiny dished out a different script for him. The entire family got involved in a tragic accident and they all succumbed. It was an error of judgment on the part of the driver of the car. OJ was devastated with this heart numbing news and tried to find solace in different places of entertainment to forget the memories of his beloved. He changed his place of residence to get away from the apartment of Shireen’s association and to start a brand new beginning.

In due course of time, OJ met a group of Americans. He moved around with them as well as with other Iranian intellectuals to feed himself the new and varying thoughts, the thoughts that were not the part of his own native surroundings. He felt empathy with the Iranian students and underdogs. He discussed it with his American friends to figure out ways and means to help out the poor. He would go to the orphanage to take care of the poor children and feed them with love and care. He would go to the places where the people fighting the system of repression gathered. He would think and discuss ways and means to eliminate suffering but to keep the economic progress going. He would donate a portion of his income to support the poor.

He figured out that in order to advance and achieve professional distinction, he had to go for an advanced degree in the US. He focused, worked tirelessly to beat the deadlines and submit professional portfolio with a crisp statement of purpose. He also got two top references.

His zeal and perseverance paid off. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh offered him not only admission to the Graduate Studies program but also a full tuition waiver in addition to the research assistantship with a handsome stipend. The professor-in-charge of the program was naturally impressed with the quality of his purpose and presentation. Very pleased, OJ sent in his acceptance to CMU. Again in his own mind, he felt that the dark horse had won the race.

In Tehran though, other important things were happening in his personal life. He got involved in a very cozy mutual relationship with an American, Deborah, an animation artiste working for the Iranian TV channel. They would go out in gatherings, with other friends and mountain outings. They started liking each other and spending time together. They started visualizing their lives from very close quarters.

Then, eventually they fell in love. Along the way, they discussed whether or not to get married. OJ didn’t want to use the crutch of marriage with an American to get a visa to the US. He wanted to be there with his own efforts. His qualm was that the relationships ought to be free from any benefits of convenience, financial or legal. A relationship ought to stand on its own merit, without having to derive some immoral gains or ulterior motives out of it. They both believed in the sense of purpose, honesty and a decent code of moral conduct devoid of playing games or being deceitful.

So of course, he did achieve what he wanted to, like a true dark horse. He definitely did win the race of sorts since he got the student’s F-1 visa as a result of his admission to CMU. That was his ticket to USA. He got things done his way without having to sacrifice his values and ideals. He was happy.

He transferred part of his own savings to the US to pay for the living expenses during the studies. He also took care of his parents with his remaining savings. After all, they had taken care of him from his birth through childhood till he finished his Undergrad Degree from IIT Kharagpur. Now that he could save sufficient funds, he took it upon himself to pay portion of it back by giving them some comfort in their advancing years.

It was the fall of 1977,. OJ went to the US. He got a place for himself and started his studies at CMU. The campus was in the heart of business and research districts of Oakland part of Pittsburgh city. Bordered by quaint residential neighborhoods and wooded hills of a scenic park, the hundred acre campus provided an academic environment that combined the best of both worlds-an urban campus in a green setting.

After joining the program, OJ encountered a wonderful phenomenon. It was that the program had many foreign students from all different parts of the world. It almost seemed like a mini-UN. He made good friends with almost all of them, Americans and other foreign students alike.

All his program mates worked hard on their program project. They all took keen interest in the program goals and made it shine. The professor was very happy and satisfied with them all. He treated them as friends and reached out to them in case of any problems. He would take them out on many occasions for treats.

In a couple months or so, Deborah got a temporary relocation at Pittsburgh. She and OJ were together for some three months. During this time both of them got married legally. They had a registered marriage at the City of Pittsburgh. Both were agnostic and didn’t care about who followed what. For them work was worship, they were workaholics.

So, they worked their butt off as usual. He performed well at CMU. She completed her project assignment. She had to go back to Iran to complete her contractual obligations even though Iran was beginning to be in turmoil. However, since the conditions in Iran became worse, OJ considered her Iran move as her folly that he would not forgive, it created unnecessary hurdles and problems in not only his busy student life but also in the future emotional well-being.

OJ became very friendly with a German classmate. Both worked on the project together. OJ helped out the German friend in his studies. The German was more into parties and fun and frolic and OJ excelled in studies. He pulled along the German friend too. In the meantime, things turned awful in Iran. There was a revolution against the Shah of Iran. He abdicated his throne and quit Iran with his family. The Iranian Revolution terminated freedom of all the foreigners, Americans and others alike.

They were more lenient towards the French and other Europeans, but the Americans had to bear the hardest brunt since Shah was considered an American puppet. Americans, Indians and some other nationalities were not allowed to leave Iran. The revolution was no freedom rally. It was religious fascism in the garb of a revolution. People still suffered.

Life became miserable for Deborah. OJ got actively involved to rescue her from those fascists. He got support from his CMU professors and students alike. He also had help from the students of University of Pittsburgh and other Pittsburgh community organizations. His professor-in-charge personally contacted Senators and Congressmen to exert pressure on Iranian government through the French and Swiss embassies in Tehran for her release. US didn’t have any diplomatic relations with Iran any longer. US embassy staff was captured and made hostage by the revolutionary government of Iran.

By April 1979 they worked out her release, she was now free to go to India and not to the US. The freedom was granted on the basis of her marriage to OJ, an Indian and hence to India. Now to OJ, the Seventh Samurai, her freedom and release was a humanitarian issue, to free a person from the clutches of tyrants. He had the spirit of a Good Samaritan.

Finally, in July of 1979 Deborah was united with OJ in California. It was akin to triumph of sorts for both of them. Yet all was not well with Deborah. Her folly, a considered opinion of OJ and his German friend, resulted in her rape, assault and suffering. She still had fear psychosis. It wasn’t easy for her to come back to the normal day-to-day family life. She was living that horror of Tehran in her sleep and in her dreams. It became a nightmare for her and depression made her nerves panic all the time.

She needed big time psychiatric help to come to terms with her past. However, he became very busy with his work. He couldn’t pay much attention to Deborah. He didn’t even bother about the problems surfacing in their relationship. One thing led to another and they started drifting apart like two icebergs.

Around that time, OJ got a very good job offer in California. His final Program project and the research project were both completed. The German friend was in the process of hitching to a nice girl. He was dating her for some time. He had an offer from a Chicago firm, which he joined in due course of time. OJ decided to go to California. Deborah wouldn’t go with him and went her own separate way. She went to New York to be away from him.

In California, OJ made great strides. He soon became a project manager handling complex multiple projects in the company. In the meantime OJ went on to become the president, and then director, of the firm he was working for. At this point of time he met a young lady, Rupa, a student from India, at a friend’s party. He was quite lonely, ready on the rebound and he liked her; so they hit off very well.

He never consciously chose a Muslim girl or a Christian or any other race for that matter. So he couldn’t care less for Rupa being a Hindu. But she had something else in her mind. Her only motive with him was to grab the Green Card and split. During the course of their courtship, OJ realized that Rupa didn’t really care for him but only for his American citizenship. It wasn’t love but it was merely a relationship of convenience. Soon she found out that he was married to Deborah and not divorced yet. So she couldn’t fulfill her dreams right away. And she decided to end this charade of love and care and went on her way.

Deborah had some rough time in New York but she did come over her trauma. She decided to make a clean break from the past. She found a new friend in John. Though he wasn’t suited for her type of person but she decided to marry him. So she went to OJ in Sacramento with their divorce papers for him to sign. He was awestricken seeing her with those papers. He after wavering for a few days, finally, signed them.

Given some time, he came along another pretty woman, Sheba, an Iranian, that looked almost like Shireen. His old memories of his first love came back to haunt him all over again. They both had a matured loving relationship. They both wanted to have a child of their own and finally they did. They had a baby boy. He turned out to be a fine boy. They all stayed in Sacramento for a long time.

Around beginning of 1991, he felt bored with the sort of life he was leading. So they started thinking of going to India to do something for the society.. Their friends tried to stop him from taking such foolish step. They reminded him of the circumstances under which he had left India in the first place. There were some moments of vacillation for Sheba. But finally OJ and Sheba decided to take the plunge. The same year they packed their bags and took off to go to India to set up and start a big Information Technology University. So the Seventh Samurai ventured again to try if his Dark Horse could still win the race for him!

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