Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Holiday...

May 22, 2007

"People are really nervous," a friend told us. "They are calling each other every few hours to make sure that one of them has not been arrested."

We know. We were busy calling one of our friends regularly to make sure that she was still sleeping in her own bed.

So what do people in Iran do when they are worried about being arrested? Here's the drill:
1. Sell all the alcohol.
2. Backup everything on the computer and then reformat the hard drives.
3. Call people with connections to find out if they can verify any rumors.
4. Carry an extra toothbrush everywhere.
5. Don't answer the door for unexpected visitors.
6. Wait.

We are on holiday now. Planning for our trip was kind of a nightmare. Since the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari and the crackdown on hejab, many of our friends have been nervous. Keivan received some veiled warnings. Another heard rumors of her impending arrest from family friends living abroad. (Neither were arrested btw) We decided to stop blogging for a while and keep a low profile.

But now we are on vacation, and oh how great the world is. So goodbye to Iran for a bit and hello world! Feeling very safe and sound.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

This weekend, the Tehrani rock band Hypernova is performing in my city in America. They are young kids on their first tour abroad. It should be pretty cool. They apparently drew good crowds (heavily Persian) in New York City last week.

I was thinking I would take photos at the show that could be then be posted by whatever Persian blog wanted them.

Is this a bad idea? Would this make trouble for the band members after they return home?

It would be terrible if these kids got harassed for coming over here and entertaining (and i'm sure enlightening) crowds in America, and I don't want to accidentally put them at risk. Should we be laying low in the USA as well?

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your well deserved vacation.

Anonymous said...

i don't think it makes any trouble for them...but try to send photo with no Islamic problem
good luck

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your vacation! Hope you guys have a good time!

Anonymous said...

Yes, enjoy your vacation! A bit of a shame, would love to hear your thoughts on the ABC News leak. (But certainly understand if you prefer to avoid an in depth analysis on this story - especially this story!)

Anonymous said...

We are going to visit Iran in a month. It will be the first visit in 4 years. I hope the situation will not be as gloomy as you depicted.

Anonymous said...

I'm Iranian, I'm living in Iran ! but i don't know what you are talking about ! I understand that we are a little under pressure in Iran, and we don't have enough freedom, but that is as bad as you said ! really we are better than this ! hamid_st@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Hamid jan,

We are really not better than this. It is the reality in our Iran at this moment. Be honest with yourself and don't try to hide our mistakes.

Unknown said...

i am thinking that may be you are living in iraq?
or may be your iranian friends try to scare you and make joke of you?
or finally may be you are too smart and say these to ask for more wage?!

there is no such a thing you described in iran!
Pooyan

Kamran said...

Dear Pooyan

I am thinking you may need to wake up and look around your self. I am not sure from which planet you wrote this posting, But if you are in Iran just go out and say "I am mad as hell and I can not take it anymore." Please let me know what happens to you.

Good luck

K

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