arms. At the age of 13, I recall a conversation I had with my dad about having a villa near the Caspian Sea for vacation times away from Tehran. I thought it would be more pleasant to go near the Caspian Sea or in western Iran where the weather was much cooler. "Couldn't we build a home somewhere else?" I asked. My father smiled. "Ah, but son, we have houses all over the world." I was puzzled. What on earth was my father talking about? "If you have good friends," my father continued, "their homes are like yours and, wherever you may go, you will always have a home."
Spring, Hope, and Love:
Part of my convalescence coincided with the Iranian New Year. Almost every culture celebrates the New Year at a different time and in a different way. Nowruz, the Persian or Iranian New Year’s Day, as we call it celebration begins on March 20th and continues for two weeks. Some of the happiest times of my life occurred during the Iranian New Year celebration. My grandma (my mother’s mother) and grandpa lived in Chaloos, a beautiful city on the Caspian Sea. Because I also had two uncles my mother’s brothers, who lived in Chaloos, it became a family tradition for us to travel there to celebrate the New Year.
Chaloos is located in a predominantly agricultural region of Iran. The main products of the region are rice, citrus, and tea. Since the Iranian New Year coincides with spring, the orange blossoms are in bloom and the fragrance in the air is intoxicating. In Iran, spring-cleaning is a part of the New Year’s ritual. It’s a time when everyone hopes and believes they can have a fresh start on life. New clothes are bought, children are given crisp money or shiny coins, and the smell of white fish on outdoor barbeques is in the air. During the time of the Persian Kings, the people would dress in their finery and bring gifts to the king.
Another drawing of mine, Spring
Every New Year my dad would take our entire family to Chaloos for the entire two-week celebration. Even after I contracted polio, I relished our New Year trip. According to tradition, the thirteenth day of the celebration was for everyone to leave their homes and spend the day outdoors. So now, even in the United States, should you find yourself in a park some time on (or around) April 4th, don’t be surprised if you find yourself surrounded by expatriate Iranians laughing around a picnic table. Don’t be alarmed. Grab a plate and enjoy some whitefish.
My father had a great many friends in government and business. Perhaps one of the great gifts I inherited from my father was an ability to make friends easily. People in general seem to be drawn to me. I don't say this to brag, it's simply something I have observed and I'm not sure I can even explain my good fortune with regard to the loyalty of my many friends. While friendships may not have eased my physical pain, I can certainly attest to the fact that being surrounded by the love and support of dear friends has been the most spiritually uplifting element in my life.
Even after my father moved to Tehran at the age of fourteen, he continued his efforts to improve the lot of family and friends who remained behind in his home village of Asekan. Dad approached a number of his powerful friends in an effort to have some kind of paved road built to Asekan. Of course, the village at the end of the road, Jostan, was not happy with the prospect of having a road built that might bypass their village. Businesses would be shut down and lost if a road were built around the other small villages.
Winters in Asekan, and many of the small surrounding villages, were almost unbearable. There was no access to doctors or clinics in the harsh weather. It wasn't uncommon for someone to become stranded in the snow and freeze to death in their effort to walk to the nearest small clinic. Something as treatable as a cold or flu might easily turn fatal, because there was no easily accessible health care.
During the harsh winters, families were forced to hunker down in a room called "deleh khaneh", which means "inside of the house". In other words, people were confined to a single room inside a house, which would keep them warm for the duration of the cold wintertime.
Another unfortunate by-product of living in an Islamic culture is that having a restroom inside the home is considered unsanitary. That meant that restrooms had to be built outside the house. During the winters, the occupants of villages like Asekan sometimes had to dig tunnels through the snow to simply go to the bathroom.
Keeping livestock alive during the winters was a daunting task. Enough grass and hay had to be gathered and stored during the summer months to be prepared for the winter. I have a cousin (Karim) who lost a finger chopping grass during the summer. Had the same accident occurred in the winter, it's very likely that Karim could have bled to death because of the difficulty he would have encountered in trying to receive medical care. In order to feed the animals, the grass and hay were dropped through a hole that had to be pre-cut in the roof of the barn.
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