A Distant Mirage - 2010

Story

A Distant Mirage, is based upon some hard facts, and some true events. But, a dramatic license has been taken to make this a work of fiction. The story is bold, hard hitting, potent and yet very entertaining. The year is 2000, and the place is Delhi, India. USHA, a young girl in her twenties, marries MICKY, an NRI from London and goes for a never- to-be forgotten honeymoon holiday in Kulu Manali, North India. Three months later, her husband MICKY goes back to London with a promise that he would send all the required legal papers, immigration documents and the visa as soon as he hits London.

Several months into it, she is still waiting for those papers to arrive. She is tired of playing the 'waiting game'. She refuses to be like thousand of those girls who are anxiously waiting for those illusive papers to arrive so that they would have an official permission to go and join their husbands wherever they happen to be in the world. Unlike those thousands of girls who are still waiting, USHA takes a bold step. Three months later, she lands in London. She gets a tremendous shock - both emotional and cultural, when she discovers that the things were not just what she has been told in superlatives before the marriage. MICKY'S pigsty living conditions irritated her to no end. She also takes it in her stride, his relationship with an English woman - ROSI, a divorcee.

SHE could also put up with MICKY'S foul temper and tantrums, but she can not face the emotional and physical tortures and traumas. On each of such occasions, MICKY would threaten her that he would, without any hesitation, report her to the British Home Office for her illegal status and the visa violations.

The story develops many layers and moves forward on several moods - emotional intrigue, love and hate. Shades of wife bashing dominate most of the time and is seen through the eyes of young RAJI, one of USHA'S friends who lives in the same house.

One day, USHA meets a black young student, ANDY ROBERTS 20, who has taken up a casual job during the summer holidays. He is kind, caring and loving. They get to know each other. He takes an instant liking to her. He takes her out and devotes a lot of time towards her well-being.

That was the beginning of a new life for USHA. Is that what she had looked forward to while in India?

A time comes when she has to decide whether to carry on living in that burning hell created, she thinks, by fate and her husband or to leave that for a more peaceful, serene and loving life with ANDY ROBERTS in the lush valleys of Scotland?

Will she opt for a new life against her beliefs and upbringing or stay behind with MICKY to die a silent death.

While she is going through that emotional upheaval, she and Andy are discovered by MICKY - a meeting perchance that brings the greatest tragedy in her life - a tragedy, drawn once again, from a true event not many years ago in London.

A DISTANT MIRAGE, is a simple, bold and well woven story and it has a lot of beautiful moments.