I am home and homesick again. Ironically, I remember days when I walked in a park in Tehran, feeling home and homesick. Such is the life that I lead, a constant contradiction in terms and actions, interspersed with realities and longings. I look at this woman, who has probably never gone much farther than her tribe, her Il. I envy her her sense of belonging to that land, the irony being that she is an Iranian nomad. She never left Iran, so she never saw new places and people to love and to belong to and to miss if she ever left again. She grew up, got married, worked side by side of her man, and will grow old watching their children and others' from their tribe. She never leaves anyone or anything important behind. When they move from Yeylagh (cold country) to Gheshlagh (warm country) and vice versa twice a year, they take everything that matters and leave anything that doesn’t behind. I envy that efficiency. Is it painful for them? Do they wish they could stay somewhere permanently? Do they get tired of moving all their lives? To be sure, they know how to do it better than I do. Could it be though, because they never knew other places and lifestyles? I wonder.
6/19/2007
Iranian Nomad Woman
I am home and homesick again. Ironically, I remember days when I walked in a park in Tehran, feeling home and homesick. Such is the life that I lead, a constant contradiction in terms and actions, interspersed with realities and longings. I look at this woman, who has probably never gone much farther than her tribe, her Il. I envy her her sense of belonging to that land, the irony being that she is an Iranian nomad. She never left Iran, so she never saw new places and people to love and to belong to and to miss if she ever left again. She grew up, got married, worked side by side of her man, and will grow old watching their children and others' from their tribe. She never leaves anyone or anything important behind. When they move from Yeylagh (cold country) to Gheshlagh (warm country) and vice versa twice a year, they take everything that matters and leave anything that doesn’t behind. I envy that efficiency. Is it painful for them? Do they wish they could stay somewhere permanently? Do they get tired of moving all their lives? To be sure, they know how to do it better than I do. Could it be though, because they never knew other places and lifestyles? I wonder.
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4 comments:
Simple is better. I am sure they have never felt the pain of leaving a loved one behind, but I bet that even with their kind of living, there are heartaches and obstacles just as tough as those we face.
But I do envy that togetherness that defines their way of living...
Aloneness and alienation are our daily experience. We don't seem to belong...being in Iran or outside of it doesn't seem to solve our inner problems.
A contemporary Hopi vision says, in part: "This is the hour...Are you in right relation?...There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will...suffer greatly. The time of the lone wolf is over..."
Assal Jan: Another wise statement beyond your years. It's true. Everybody suffers in their own way and in the own world. Tribal living does have its benefits, but unfortunately its own plights, too. Tribes by their very nature, do not blend and mix well with others, which can cause tragedies, too. Thanks for coming to visit my dear.
Very well said, Serendip! The time of this lone wolf has been over for a long time!
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