Memories of Stores

Taleghan Dam, last Friday, February 29, 2008. Photo by Universal Farshad. Take a look at the breathtaking reflection of those mountains in the half-frozen water. Thank you, Uni-Far.

I ended an exhausting day at the office and rushed to have dinner with two of my sisters. It was a really wonderful time, spent chit chatting and catching up on each other's doings. My sister will leave again on Saturday, and this was my last chance to see her on this trip. The three of us walked into Macy's after dinner and I was reminded of all the years we were poor and broke as students, when our favorite pastime was walking around in shopping malls, never being able to afford buying anything! Perhaps now I can afford to buy things, but I find that I like shopping less and less, only succumbing to the activity when I absolutely need something. Just the same, it was sweet to walk down the empty giant store, talking and laughing. I said goodbye to my lovely sister who is getting ready to go hold the twins in Paris for Nowrooz.

I am going to SFSU Iranian Culture Club's Nowrooz party tomorrow night, organized and managed by His Majesty, Ala Hazrat Haj Agha, and then on to celebrate his birthday with our other friends. Something rare and fabulous is also happening tomorrow night: my kids and their friends are also going to the event with me! Well, they aren't really going with me, but they'll be at the same place as me! I gave up trying to go anywhere with them a long time ago, realizing that as they age, it is less acceptable for them to be hanging out with their mother in public! Hee Hee, I just remembered a memory!

When my older son was 15 or 16, one afternoon he and I went to Super Jordan to shop. I had a small cart which was filling up quickly with the things I was throwing in it, and my son was pushing the cart down the narrow isle. At one point I went to get some milk and when I came back, there was a bottle of Delester, the popular non-alcoholic Iranian beer, in my cart. I thought someone had put it in there by mistake. So, I picked it up and looked around to see who was shopping in my vicinity. At this time, my son said to me: "That's mine!" I looked at him with surprise and asked him: "Really? You like Delester? That's interesting! Why did you take just one? Get some more!" In the time it took me to say those words with joy, I noticed that my son had disappeared! I looked around and he was nowhere to be found. I paid and took the things to the car, scanning the street, but I couldn't see my son. What happened to him? When I got home he was there, but looking sullen and quiet. I asked him what had happened to him and he said that I had embarrassed him by getting so excited over the Delester business, and he had decided to leave! I guess I might have gotten a bit loud with the joy of discovering something about his changing taste, and this had embarrassed him! I decided then that whenever in public with my children, I will act "cool" and "detached," because it will be a number of years before hanging out with the older woman who loves them and oooh's and aaaah's over them becomes something welcome and acceptable. These are the years I must be keeping my public distance from them, and I do it willingly. They know and I know, that the unfazed demeanor and the quiet lips of their mother have left all the work of loving and expressing affection for them to her eyes which scan the room to see them and guide her heart to get filled with pride and love, while all the time looking oh-so-cool and indifferent.

Happy Friday everybody. I'll write my Friday post late tomorrow night and reply to your kind comments then. Be good y'all.

What Love Tastes Like

Taleghan's Kash Village Woman, Ashpazan Kash Village Women Cooking For Many in Ashpazan Ceremony Photos by Farshad Salehi

Do you miss the simple and free pleasure of being served a bowl of hot Ash-e-Reshteh cooked and served by the loving hands of women who put their hearts and souls into cooking for hundreds once a year? I miss it. Food that is cooked with love tastes better. Looking at these pictures doesn't really make me hungry. It just makes me nostalgic with the memory of smells and tastes of love. I miss it a lot.

The Lights in Taleghan Nights

A cottage in the village of Gouran, Taleghan. More Taleghan photos by Fatameh Farajmandi here.

It's Friday in Tehran. I remember my Friday excursions into villages near Tehran. At this time of the year, Taleghan must be gorgeous, with walnut and fruit trees slowly shedding their leaves which have already turned into hundreds of beautiful colors. Harvest time has come and gone in those parts by now, my Taleghani friend tells me. He says walnuts and fruits and honey have already been shipped to their destinations. Now Taleghan rests and gears up for the snowy winter ahead. He says Taleghanis love to keep lights on in their homes, and on special occasions, such as Nowrooz, they keep the lights on all night. The air must have turned cool, urging locals to heat up their homes. I remember the prestine and cool sheets and blanket (lahaf) I was given in which to sleep one cold night when I was a guest of a Taleghani family. It was so welcoming to know that they had expected guests in their house, and that I was the lucky one! Their simple breakfast the next day was so delicious, I remember it still. Life goes on. For now, mine goes on some of the time with my memories. Thankfully, the rest of the time I am making new memories. No complaints.