Gerard Ganesh Bin Samarkand

Asima and Khaled Samarkand were wedded in a small village mosque at the outskirts of Faislabad, a city within the Punjab province of Pakistan. The two Capuchin Monkeys were wedded by the village elder, a noble Jackal who had spent a lifetime preaching peaceful Islamic values to the village.

She was a terrified woman of 30, a renowned Oncologist who had recently discovered an alternative method for cancer treatment. Asima's story was regarded as an enigma by many, being a highly successful woman in a profession, as well as country, that was dominated by men, especially considering her youth.

He was a terrified man of 32, a decorated veteran of the 7th Commando Zarrar Batallion of the Pakistani S.S.G., the special forces unit of the Pakistani military. The Zarrar Battalion specializes in counter-terrorism operations. Khaled received an honorable discharge after being wounded during an assault on a terrorist cell located in the Pir Panjal Mountain Range in Kashmiri Pakistan.

The two were married with almost no chance to get to know one another, their marriage having been arranged by their parents. Their first month was painfully awkward, both striving just to get to know one another while their parents were already wondering when they would conceive their first child. Slowly, surely, the pair began to fall in love with one another. Khaled and Asima grew close, talking late into the night, yet not being ready to fulfill their parents' expectation of a child just yet.

It seemed a cruelty that just when the two began to love one another, tragedy would strike. In the summer of  1987, the country exploded into violence as the violent and ideologically-driven Afghani Arabs began to migrate into the tribal areas of Pakistan, spreading ideas of violence and intolerance that had been the cause of their eviction from their native country. Just at the beginning of that summer, Khaled and Asima had finally made love for the first time. Their lovemaking was no explosion of lust, but rather the awkard, tender, intimate love of mutual beginners.

Khaled had just been watching the live coverage of a bazaar that had been assaulted by a suicide bomber on the television, when his wife bustled in beaming from ear to ear. Pregnant! The pair rejoiced in an embrace over their personal joy, a joy immediately tempered by fear over the future of their child. With a hand across his wife's belly, Khaled realized what they had to do.

Khaled and Asima immediately spent their savings on purchasing two plane tickets to America, resolving to take their child away from the violence that was tearing their country apart. The weight of the decision was heavy on both of their minds. Khaled had no special skills, and his status as a veteran would invite nothing but distrust in the new country. Asima, despite being renowned for her work, would have to study in an American school in order to practice medicine in America. Their savings were almost dried up, the banks having collapsed under the blows struck to the Pakistani economy by the unrest. Pockets empty, yet hearts full of hope, the pair set out for America.

Their first months in America were difficult. Khaled, respected by all for his courage and military service in Pakistan, was forced to work a humiliating position as a janitor in order to pay the couple's debts. Asima, unable to attend medical school due to her painful pregnancy, had to watch in angst as her husband came home day after day, the fire in his eyes a bit dimmer every time.

The couple's woes, however, were soon to come to an end. In the ninth month of her pregnancy, Asima started to shriek in pain as the contractions began. Khaled had just come into the door when his wife began to wail. Panic. Absolute panic. The couple had no phone, no grasp of english, and no car.

Taking his wife by the hand, Khaled ran with her into the street, both getting deluged by the rain. Khaled sprinted in front of a passing car, banging on the driver's side window to make them stop. After bellowing out "Subtal! Subtal!" (The Pakistani word for "Hospital") to the terrified driver multiple times, to no avail, Khaled opened the door, grabbed the poor fox by the lapels, and threw him out of the car. With Asima safely in the passenger's seat, Khaled barreled the car down the road.

It was in these circumstances, with the drenched owner of the car blubbering out his story to the police chief, with a father being hustled out of the hospital by the security guards (to later be cleared of any crime by the wisdom of the judge), with his mother having to be held down by multiple orderlies during the delivery to prevent her from running after her husband, that Gerard Ganesh Bin Samarkand came into the world.