Christmas Hanukkah Yalda

Since Christmas coincides nicely with the longest night of the year that we celebrate as Yalda we decided to give Yalda cards for the holidays this year and hopefully for the years to come.

I have realized that Hanukkah is being advertised and celebrated more publicly these days. I think it rhymes very nicely with the festivities of the Christmas Holidays. At around the same time we Iranians celebrate Yalda, the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. We celebrate the light conquering the darkness. We recognize that even though till then the length of night was increasing, from then on the length of the day increases and spring is in sight. We cherish how darkness, even though trying, can never prevail. We celebrate the hope and beauty of light.

It is as if we are keeping all these meanings and celebrations to ourselves. It is indeed a Persian celebration but how nicely it alludes into the spirit of Christmas and Hanukkah.  Yalda is more ancient than them both and  I think Yalda can very well be recognized more widely.  How about giving away Yalda cards for the holidays?

Imagine a card with the pictures of pomegranate and Hafez and Shahnameh poetry books and nuts in the middle of red and green cards of Santa Claus and blue and white cards with Menorah.  It will be festive, peaceful, united, and global. It will be understanding and accepting. It will expand horizons and exude friendship.
I wish you all happy holidays in advance!
 

http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Celebrating_Yalda_2.htm

Add http://live.longhill.org.uk/?p=7193

http://www.localnomad.com/en/blog/2012/12/05/why-decorate-the-christmas-tree/

"Rome, Tehran, Tokyo"

In an ad campaign for Hilton Hotels, "Magnificent cities" was the description used by Don Draper for Rome, Tehran, and Tokyo in the same sequence in Mad Men, Season 3, Episode 9. 1963.

2013. Exactly 40 years later, and there is no more any Hilton Hotel in Tehran.  In fact, who would think about vacationing in Tehran except for Iranians and some very rare tourists?  Who would put magnificent and Tehran in the same sentence? How often would one think of Rome and Tehran at the same time?

Alas! I can't stop but wonder how the world could be if there still was a Hilton Hotel in Tehran. Perhaps I was still living there, just blocks away from  my beloved mom and sister. Perhaps the sky of the cities in the land of Persia was still blue and not hazy with dust. Perhaps Iran was listed in the drop down menu of Expedia. Perhaps my kids could read and comprehend Ferdowsi's poem yet I was not reciting it in my head dozens of times every day:

دريغ است ايران كه ويران شود

كنام پلنگان و شيران شود

Alas if Iran is destroyed

Alas if Iran is housed by leopards and lions

Rira

"We are all doing fine!
But you don't believe it."
How I miss it deeply suddenly.  His voice.  Khosrow Shakibaii. God bless his soul!
And his words!  Ali Salehi.

There was the high school era.  The time to meet friends, every day.  Every single day.  And the time to dream, dream among those friends of the same thread.  Dream, every day.  Every single day.  Dream all the dreams in the world.  The presence of those friends was enough to make many many dreams seem possible.

"ziba! havaaye hosele abrist"

Now, today, being thousands of thousands of miles away from them, residing on the other side of the world, being out of school for years already, being the wife of a man I love, being the mother of a boy I adore, being the employee of a company I admired, I bump into stop signs on a daily basis.  I see people eye to eye while they are looking at me with their dreamless eyes, with their waxed ears, with their closed mind.  I see people who are looking but cannot see.

Those friends of the same thread are not here to dream with me every day anymore.  Yet, I will continue with my dreaming.  I will continue seeing what other might not be able to see.  I will continue dreaming of bigger dreams.  I will look at the stop signs of the dreamless people and walk through their stop signs.

I am.

Happy Nowruz!

All the blessed wishes for the New Year!

charshanbe suri

Tomorrow is the last Wednesday before the new Spring, which marks the beginning of the Persian New Year.  So people are out having parties and cleansing themselves with the fire.  We are planning on an outing next Tuesday night.  But it was fun to hear the announcement on NPR on my way home.

A Few More Hours in Budapest

Got an hour of boat tour on the Danube.  It was very cold and not much enjoyable but still I got some sun burn.  Beauty of it was that I floated on Danube for an hour which sounded very romantic.  Got to see some old buildings from afar and mark the places I would like to explore when I am here again with my family enshala.
Walked back to the hotel from the pier using the internal streets.  Two blocks eat of the river there was a promenade for a few blocks that was really charming to walk in.  I found a souvenir shop in an inner alley which was also an antic shop.  It was really interesting exploring the old china and dolls and medals from communist era.  The first thing that caught my eyes was a Hungarian doll I fell in love immediately.  It was very bizarre as I never played with dolls growing up but now expecting a baby girl I thought I wanted to buy it for 2000 Hungarian Flute, $8.  I also got to buy a hand rafted table cloth with needle works and crochet.  I found A a hand made wooden game of balance I hope he enjoys experimenting with.  Wish I could find M a decent present but alas.  But got our household a bag of paprika and a couple porcelain small dishes I hope he enjoys.
These kind of promenade is exactly what I like about Europe.  Especially in cheaper places like Budapest.  I hope to go back one day with my family.  In fact a colleague from the area recommended that I should combine visiting Prague, Vienna, and Budapest in one trip and I liked the idea.  Until then.

Exploring Budapest for 2 Hours

Got to explore the center of the city a little bit.  In fact, only the Pest side of the city.  Apparently the name Budapest is composed of the name of the two cities neighboring the Danube: Buda and Pest.My colleagues and I got a Hop On Hop Off bus tour for $25 that is valid for two days and allows you take a boat tour as well.  I thought it was quite a good deal.
We embarked after the general sessions of the Sales Meeting I am attending and presenting at during this trip. Got to visit a couple monuments and few buildings that looked old, but were only from 1800s.  One of my colleagues, K.C. and I, hop off at Heroes' Square to explore on foot.  There were some statues and then a bridge below which, on the frozen platform, people were ice skating.  It was real neat to watch. Then there was a garden with a few old buildings and a church, all old looking but only from 1800s which was interesting to me.
When we got back to the station K.C. realized that he had lost his ticket.  So we got to explore some sections of the city on foot.  It was right around noon and not too cold so it actually turned out nicely.
We had a quick lunch at a Turkish Halal buffet-like place.  At the counter the guy said marhaba to me, meaning welcome in Arabic.  So I responded back: marhaba.  And ordered a large Turkish tea as I was somewhat freezing.  He asked if I was Iranian!  I confirmed but asked how he knew and he responded from the color of my skin and my accent!!  I had hardly said anything and I was sure compared to the rest of European and Middle Easterners I had a more American accent than not.  So was puzzled until I realized the accent he was referring to was my Arabic accent in saying marhaba.  The food was real good and I got to chat a bit deeper than ever with K.C. which was real nice.
Close to the hotel there was a park with a local market we got to go through with no cash in our pockets.  Otherwise there were many interesting things and delicious looking foods we had to pass on.
I have a more appreciation for the city now.  I hope to come back with M and A and the baby enshala.

Iran and America Through a Different Lense

A photographer from New York embarked a journey to Iran in December.  I admire his vision and his fact-finding nature in not limiting himself to political media to learn about Iran, especially at this time out of all times.

Enjoy his blog as I absolutely enjoyed every word and every picture!

Turquoise Howz

I want to build howz, a fountain.  I want to bring in those blue turquoise mosaics and decorate my howz inch by inch.  Those mosaics that are baked in a local shop deep in the bazaar, and painted the perfect smooth color of turquoise by the artistic fingers of an old man. I want to buy the smallest mosaics, and carry them all the way from that land of my grandparents and build a fountain in the middle of my garden.  I want my children to remember the color of blue such that it was in those ancient fountains in the middle of those gardens.  I want to build a turquoise blue fountain.

The Story of Two Books

A chilly autumnal afternoon, a sweetened cup of tea, a pair of slippers, a blanket, and two books.  And such a contrast!
I am reading Shirin and Khosrow's story from Nezami's book of poems, of course in Farsi.  The story goes back centuries and this version is from about 800 years ago.  Nezami starts the book with praising God and thanking him for giving him the talent to write.  The he talks about love.  Oh!  Such an amazingly lovely depiction of love.  Finally after praising the prophet and the king and all he starts the story of Khosrow. Such mystery!  Such beauty!  Such elegance in his words!  What is the most apparent to me this time (every time I read a book I find a new appearance) is its simple purity and its pure simplicity.  How fortunate I feel to be able to read and comprehend Farsi for such treasures in our literature!
I am reading Picture if Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, from 1890.  I must say, I am enjoying the writing.  And I am most curious to know where it all ends.  The emphasis by Lord Henry Wotton on beauty and fulfillment of senses is interesting to me.  And the helplessness in Dorian admitting to impermanence of beauty.
In both books there are much depictions of the apparent beauties: faces, hair, bodies.
Both books refer to lust, a lot.
Yet, the former book has a sense of love in it the latter lacks.  Hence, it feels more moral, more humane even perhaps.
No conclusion yet though, as I am still in the middle of both books.  Perhaps, to be continued.

Old Old Songs

Old old songs are those that in my parent's collections were called "old songs".  Just for the sake of it!




Darvish, Golpa