Read this post:
Editor: Myself | Hossein Derakhshan's weblog (English)
"Ask those in Tehran hospitals with no kidneys about Saddam, as well as from Rumsfeld and Chirac
Nobody was happier than most Iranians seeing Saddam looking like stinky homeless men--except for Iraqis of course."
Saturday, December 27, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33652-2003Dec27.html
The day after the Apocaplypse
I had a long blog I was working on, but it will have to wait. People here are stunned by the earthquake in Bam. Yesterday, I was visiting K's family in Western Iran. Around 7 pm we saw a 2-minute news clip about the earthquake, but we could not quite understand what happened. There was no follow-up, we had no internet connection, and no satellite. "If this were American tv," I told everyone, "we would not be watching anything else. We would see this news over and over and over again."
When I got off the plane and got in a car to head home, the man driving the car said that Al Jazeera reported that 40,000 people had been killed. I thought that this must be an exaggeration. Similar numbers were reported after the earthquake in Turkey that ended up killing 10,000 people (still a lot!), I told the people riding with us.
When I got home, I immediately logged on to the internet, read that 5000 people had been killed and was relieved that the number was not higher. It seems, however, that the number is much higher and may even be as high as Al Jazeera originally reported.
Even worse news is that this is not an isolated tragedy. Half of the population of the city of Bam is probably dead, and there are no real earthquake construction standards in Iran. I am willing to bet that a good many of California's civil engineers have Iranian backgrounds. Maybe Iran should consider getting some of them over here to address some civil engineering issues. What happens when a similar earthquake happens in Tehran?
The day after the Apocaplypse
I had a long blog I was working on, but it will have to wait. People here are stunned by the earthquake in Bam. Yesterday, I was visiting K's family in Western Iran. Around 7 pm we saw a 2-minute news clip about the earthquake, but we could not quite understand what happened. There was no follow-up, we had no internet connection, and no satellite. "If this were American tv," I told everyone, "we would not be watching anything else. We would see this news over and over and over again."
When I got off the plane and got in a car to head home, the man driving the car said that Al Jazeera reported that 40,000 people had been killed. I thought that this must be an exaggeration. Similar numbers were reported after the earthquake in Turkey that ended up killing 10,000 people (still a lot!), I told the people riding with us.
When I got home, I immediately logged on to the internet, read that 5000 people had been killed and was relieved that the number was not higher. It seems, however, that the number is much higher and may even be as high as Al Jazeera originally reported.
Even worse news is that this is not an isolated tragedy. Half of the population of the city of Bam is probably dead, and there are no real earthquake construction standards in Iran. I am willing to bet that a good many of California's civil engineers have Iranian backgrounds. Maybe Iran should consider getting some of them over here to address some civil engineering issues. What happens when a similar earthquake happens in Tehran?
Sunday, December 21, 2003
December 21, 2003
Arabic destroyed Persian
We were riding in a minibus with many of K's nieces and nephews talking about the Persian language, singing, and discussing conversion.
"If I convert," K's nephew told me, "I could be killed. In Iran, it would be okay for any Muslim to kill me for converting. They would not be prosecuted." (is that true?)
I told him that we valued freedom of religion in America. "You still might be killed," I said, "but at least we would prosecute your killer."
"Girls can convert until they are nine and boys can convert until they are 15," K's niece explained.
"That's too early to make a decision."
Later, they were telling me how the Arabic destroyed the Persian language. "We had such a beautiful language before the Arabs invaded," I was told. "Now it's so terrible…so many Arabic words."
(Earlier, a lawyer we met told us that after the revolution Iranians had to use Arabic names for their children. "Imagine, you could not use a good Persian name like 'Sudabeh,' you have to choose an Arabic name instead.")
I pointed out that their own family had been among the Arab invaders. They laughed. "Oh, but on the other side we are descended from an escaped Roman prisoner. What do you think, do we look Italian?"
"Most Iranians could pass for Italian," I answered.
Lately I have noticed that many, many of our friends have last names that betray Arabic ancestry, but all of them feel Iranian. Most of them complain about the Arabic invasion of Persia (A good long time ago!) and feel no connection with other people in this region. Of course, my own name is best pronounced by Germans, but I feel no connection to them either…
Iranians think of themselves as diverse. "You don't see it," K tells me. "But we are made up of so many tribes and ethnic groups. It's amazing." He is right, I don't see it. Although, I have noticed that many Lors have big drooping noses and many people from K's home town have huge, dark eyes and full lips. Almost everyone seems to have one eyebrow. The women here just make sure to trim theirs. Which brings me to my next point…
Eyebrows
I never really paid much attention to my eyebrows before, but now they jump out at me every time I look in the mirror. They look terribly wild and ungroomed. Iranian women take such good care of their eyebrows. The older women have pencil thin brows and the younger women have gorgeous, thick, but incredibly shaped brows. Many girls sport a unibrow. I keep wondering when the grooming ritual begins? Is it a kind of rite of passage, kind of like a Bat Mitzvah?
Sometimes I envy the way that grooming habits are so openly discussed here. When I was a teenager, I was horribly embarrassed by my body. I thought that my arms were incredibly hairy (they were not): I hated my pimples; all that typical stuff. Here, flaws are embraced. Maybe the teenagers are mortified here too, but they seem pretty calm to me.
Who knows, maybe I will go get my eyebrows shaped.
Arabic destroyed Persian
We were riding in a minibus with many of K's nieces and nephews talking about the Persian language, singing, and discussing conversion.
"If I convert," K's nephew told me, "I could be killed. In Iran, it would be okay for any Muslim to kill me for converting. They would not be prosecuted." (is that true?)
I told him that we valued freedom of religion in America. "You still might be killed," I said, "but at least we would prosecute your killer."
"Girls can convert until they are nine and boys can convert until they are 15," K's niece explained.
"That's too early to make a decision."
Later, they were telling me how the Arabic destroyed the Persian language. "We had such a beautiful language before the Arabs invaded," I was told. "Now it's so terrible…so many Arabic words."
(Earlier, a lawyer we met told us that after the revolution Iranians had to use Arabic names for their children. "Imagine, you could not use a good Persian name like 'Sudabeh,' you have to choose an Arabic name instead.")
I pointed out that their own family had been among the Arab invaders. They laughed. "Oh, but on the other side we are descended from an escaped Roman prisoner. What do you think, do we look Italian?"
"Most Iranians could pass for Italian," I answered.
Lately I have noticed that many, many of our friends have last names that betray Arabic ancestry, but all of them feel Iranian. Most of them complain about the Arabic invasion of Persia (A good long time ago!) and feel no connection with other people in this region. Of course, my own name is best pronounced by Germans, but I feel no connection to them either…
Iranians think of themselves as diverse. "You don't see it," K tells me. "But we are made up of so many tribes and ethnic groups. It's amazing." He is right, I don't see it. Although, I have noticed that many Lors have big drooping noses and many people from K's home town have huge, dark eyes and full lips. Almost everyone seems to have one eyebrow. The women here just make sure to trim theirs. Which brings me to my next point…
Eyebrows
I never really paid much attention to my eyebrows before, but now they jump out at me every time I look in the mirror. They look terribly wild and ungroomed. Iranian women take such good care of their eyebrows. The older women have pencil thin brows and the younger women have gorgeous, thick, but incredibly shaped brows. Many girls sport a unibrow. I keep wondering when the grooming ritual begins? Is it a kind of rite of passage, kind of like a Bat Mitzvah?
Sometimes I envy the way that grooming habits are so openly discussed here. When I was a teenager, I was horribly embarrassed by my body. I thought that my arms were incredibly hairy (they were not): I hated my pimples; all that typical stuff. Here, flaws are embraced. Maybe the teenagers are mortified here too, but they seem pretty calm to me.
Who knows, maybe I will go get my eyebrows shaped.
Friday, December 19, 2003
December 19, 2003
So is it really almost Christmas?
The official word here is that Saddam's capture is a good thing. K told me that the day the capture was announced there was little discussion in the papers he reads. The day after the official word was negative. Two days ago, the official word was "good thing."
Since the appearance of the famous bearded Hussein picture, many of the papers here have been showing pictures of people in other countries reading newspapers with the bearded Hussein on the cover. I saw a picture of a man in a red and white headdress reading the Gulf News, a group of young men crowded around a French paper, another group crowded around a paper using the Cyrillic alphabet, and many other versions on that theme. It's not all that different from reading Google News with its headlines: "Reactions in Iraq," "Reactions from Russia," etc…
I wonder if people closer to the border with Iraq care more about Hussein's capture than people in Tehran. Until today, no one had even spoken to me about Hussein's capture.
Today I had my first conversation with Iranians about the whole affair. A couple of them felt that the capture was timed to coincide with Bush's re-election campaign and predicted that Bin Laden would be captured right before the general elections. A third person felt that Saddam Hussein had metaphysical powers that allowed him to stay in power and that the man captured was not the real Saddam Hussein. A fourth person just listened.
I guess the opinions voiced were not very different from some of those cited in this USA Today editorial: USATODAY.com - There must be a plot to bring back the conspiracy theory.
So is it really almost Christmas?
The official word here is that Saddam's capture is a good thing. K told me that the day the capture was announced there was little discussion in the papers he reads. The day after the official word was negative. Two days ago, the official word was "good thing."
Since the appearance of the famous bearded Hussein picture, many of the papers here have been showing pictures of people in other countries reading newspapers with the bearded Hussein on the cover. I saw a picture of a man in a red and white headdress reading the Gulf News, a group of young men crowded around a French paper, another group crowded around a paper using the Cyrillic alphabet, and many other versions on that theme. It's not all that different from reading Google News with its headlines: "Reactions in Iraq," "Reactions from Russia," etc…
I wonder if people closer to the border with Iraq care more about Hussein's capture than people in Tehran. Until today, no one had even spoken to me about Hussein's capture.
Today I had my first conversation with Iranians about the whole affair. A couple of them felt that the capture was timed to coincide with Bush's re-election campaign and predicted that Bin Laden would be captured right before the general elections. A third person felt that Saddam Hussein had metaphysical powers that allowed him to stay in power and that the man captured was not the real Saddam Hussein. A fourth person just listened.
I guess the opinions voiced were not very different from some of those cited in this USA Today editorial: USATODAY.com - There must be a plot to bring back the conspiracy theory.
December 19, 2003
So is it really almost Christmas?
The official word here is that Saddam's capture is a good thing. K told me that the day the capture was announced there was little discussion in the papers he reads. The day after the official word was negative. Two days ago, the official word was "good thing."
Since the appearance of the famous bearded Hussein picture, many of the papers here have been showing pictures of people in other countries reading newspapers with the bearded Hussein on the cover. I saw a picture of a man in a red and white headdress reading the Gulf News, a group of young men crowded around a French paper, another group crowded around a paper using the Cyrillic alphabet, and many other versions on that theme. It's not all that different from reading Google News with its headlines: "Reactions in Iraq," "Reactions from Russia," etc…
I wonder if people closer to the border with Iraq care more about Hussein's capture than people in Tehran. Until today, no one had even spoken to me about Hussein's capture.
Today I had my first conversation with Iranians about the whole affair. A couple of them felt that the capture was timed to coincide with Bush's re-election campaign and predicted that Bin Laden would be captured right before the general elections. A third person felt that Saddam Hussein had metaphysical powers that allowed him to stay in power and that the man captured was not the real Saddam Hussein. A fourth person just listened.
I guess the opinions voiced were not very different from some of those cited in this USA Today editorial: USATODAY.com - There must be a plot to bring back the conspiracy theory.
So is it really almost Christmas?
The official word here is that Saddam's capture is a good thing. K told me that the day the capture was announced there was little discussion in the papers he reads. The day after the official word was negative. Two days ago, the official word was "good thing."
Since the appearance of the famous bearded Hussein picture, many of the papers here have been showing pictures of people in other countries reading newspapers with the bearded Hussein on the cover. I saw a picture of a man in a red and white headdress reading the Gulf News, a group of young men crowded around a French paper, another group crowded around a paper using the Cyrillic alphabet, and many other versions on that theme. It's not all that different from reading Google News with its headlines: "Reactions in Iraq," "Reactions from Russia," etc…
I wonder if people closer to the border with Iraq care more about Hussein's capture than people in Tehran. Until today, no one had even spoken to me about Hussein's capture.
Today I had my first conversation with Iranians about the whole affair. A couple of them felt that the capture was timed to coincide with Bush's re-election campaign and predicted that Bin Laden would be captured right before the general elections. A third person felt that Saddam Hussein had metaphysical powers that allowed him to stay in power and that the man captured was not the real Saddam Hussein. A fourth person just listened.
I guess the opinions voiced were not very different from some of those cited in this USA Today editorial: USATODAY.com - There must be a plot to bring back the conspiracy theory.
December 19, 2003
So is it really almost Christmas?
The official word here is that Saddam's capture is a good thing. K told me that the day the capture was announced there was little discussion in the papers he reads. The day after the official word was negative. Two days ago, the official word was "good thing."
Since the appearance of the famous bearded Hussein picture, many of the papers here have been showing pictures of people in other countries reading newspapers with the bearded Hussein on the cover. I saw a picture of a man in a red and white headdress reading the Gulf News, a group of young men crowded around a French paper, another group crowded around a paper using the Cyrillic alphabet, and many other versions on that theme. It's not all that different from reading Google News with its headlines: "Reactions in Iraq," "Reactions from Russia," etc…
I wonder if people closer to the border with Iraq care more about Hussein's capture than people in Tehran. Until today, no one had even spoken to me about Hussein's capture.
Today I had my first conversation with Iranians about the whole affair. A couple of them felt that the capture was timed to coincide with Bush's re-election campaign and predicted that Bin Laden would be captured right before the general elections. A third person felt that Saddam Hussein had metaphysical powers that allowed him to stay in power and that the man captured was not the real Saddam Hussein. A fourth person just listened.
I guess the opinions voiced were not very different from some of those cited in this USA Today editorial: USATODAY.com - There must be a plot to bring back the conspiracy theory
So is it really almost Christmas?
The official word here is that Saddam's capture is a good thing. K told me that the day the capture was announced there was little discussion in the papers he reads. The day after the official word was negative. Two days ago, the official word was "good thing."
Since the appearance of the famous bearded Hussein picture, many of the papers here have been showing pictures of people in other countries reading newspapers with the bearded Hussein on the cover. I saw a picture of a man in a red and white headdress reading the Gulf News, a group of young men crowded around a French paper, another group crowded around a paper using the Cyrillic alphabet, and many other versions on that theme. It's not all that different from reading Google News with its headlines: "Reactions in Iraq," "Reactions from Russia," etc…
I wonder if people closer to the border with Iraq care more about Hussein's capture than people in Tehran. Until today, no one had even spoken to me about Hussein's capture.
Today I had my first conversation with Iranians about the whole affair. A couple of them felt that the capture was timed to coincide with Bush's re-election campaign and predicted that Bin Laden would be captured right before the general elections. A third person felt that Saddam Hussein had metaphysical powers that allowed him to stay in power and that the man captured was not the real Saddam Hussein. A fourth person just listened.
I guess the opinions voiced were not very different from some of those cited in this USA Today editorial: USATODAY.com - There must be a plot to bring back the conspiracy theory
Monday, December 15, 2003
Back after a long absence…
Maybe one day I will write about it.
Newsstands
The other day I counted 46 different daily broadsheets at a newsstand in Tehran. I got tired of counting when I got to the tabloids, but it looked like there were about 15. This morning, most of the papers carried pictures of a grey-faced Saddam Hussein. By the afternoon, the stands seemed barer than normal and most of the papers left had athletes and celebrities on the covers.
Bus Haiku
These lines were found on the sides of buses. I plan to make this a regular feature. If you have seen buses with little poems on them, please let me know. Thanks!
In the name of God
No smoking
Panda
God
Beautifulle Bus
First snow
We had our first snow in Tehran. The mountains around Tehran are already white with snow.
Maybe one day I will write about it.
Newsstands
The other day I counted 46 different daily broadsheets at a newsstand in Tehran. I got tired of counting when I got to the tabloids, but it looked like there were about 15. This morning, most of the papers carried pictures of a grey-faced Saddam Hussein. By the afternoon, the stands seemed barer than normal and most of the papers left had athletes and celebrities on the covers.
Bus Haiku
These lines were found on the sides of buses. I plan to make this a regular feature. If you have seen buses with little poems on them, please let me know. Thanks!
In the name of God
No smoking
Panda
God
Beautifulle Bus
First snow
We had our first snow in Tehran. The mountains around Tehran are already white with snow.
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