* 110 Braim
Note from a family friend in Abadan in memory
of Shirin Bakhtiar, aka Kritopher Kolumbus, Rose Ghajar...
I was 12-years old, new to the school. On the first
day of the school, a
beautiful
red
haired
girl
came up
to
me
and said
"What is
your name?" I told her my last name, she said "You can
sit with me if you want."
This is how I got to the magical house.
When I first was invited to Soraya and her sisiter Suesan's house,
I realized everything was different there. Paintings on the wall,
colorful furniture, classical
music in the air -- much different from our house or anybody
else's I had seen.
For me, that's when the concept of choice and living your life
the way you want, came into existence. I saw Soraya and Suesan's
mom and I knew, there is possibility in life.
When she used to paint, in the back of the house, there
was this big table and all around it was cans of paint
and she
would
choose and mix colors as she wanted them, as I felt she
did in her
life.
Her unconventionality, her sense of possibility and her
smile for me was all magic.
12
years ago I went back to Abadan. I went to # 110 Braim, the door
was open, the house was empty. I walked in and
stood there
in the middle of the round entrance hall, where
my favorite paintings used to hang on the wall. I
looked around and it all came back, the colors, the music
and the magic. The sense of possibility and choices in
life.
She was full of life and the center of the house.
Shirin Bakhtiar passed away last week.
Thanks for being the way you were.
Yasaman Mottaghipour
Top
* Different
was okay
Dear Jahanshah,
I just heard the news about your mom from Noushin Talebi. I
don't know if I ever told you but your mom was a major source
of
inspiration for me when I was growing up.
I always admired her courage of going against the traditional
and
conservative lifestyles of "Sherkat Naftee haa" (oil
company staff).
I loved her outfits. I loved
her paintings. I loved her sense of style. I loved her glass
objects that had
flowers and things in them. I was always fascinated by her.
I always envied
you and Iran for having such a special mom.
When I left Abadan and came to the US, in defiance much
like your mom, I
wore my mahali [Iranian tribal] clothes in school.
I used to get a lot of looks from
students. But I loved being different.
Your mom unknowingly taught me to be different. And different
was okay. I forever am grateful to her.
She was a treasure.
Stay strong my friend.
Please give [your sister] Iran a big hug for me.
Hennie
Top
*
I think I got it
Hola Jahanshan,
While talking with your sister Soraya last week in Calpe,
she suggested we take a look at your website Iranian.com
and I'm delighted that we did. Not only have we discovered
a side of [your mother] Rose we had not known [iranian.com's
mother has died], it also gave us an opportunity to see
her paintings, something
she chose
not
to talk much
about at this stage of her life.
It's also nice to be able to read another point
of view and to be able to share. I very much enjoyed working
with your mom on her book of short
stories over the last
three months and you are so right when you say she was
very excited about the whole thing. We finished it two/three
days before she died and my one regret is in her not
seeing it in print or having the beer and pizza party she
had
planned for the launch.
I was glad to read that I was not alone in dealing with
the puzzlement her stories caused [Infuriatingly
good]. For a while there
I had doubted my own sanity at not been able to comprehend
what the hell she was trying to get across and for an Irish
woman, that's bad news, especially coming from a
cultural background of literature and story telling. However,
in the end I think I got it.
Her stories were not meant to make sense in the true
meaning of a story been told, they were to make you think
about what they could or might mean and to appreciate her
imagination and turn of phrase. She told me once that she
liked to think of the readers having to work at it and
try figure it out for themselves, and she certainly achieved
that.
You said Jahanshah, that she lived alone in Calpe, which
was true, but I wanted you to know that she shared her
life here with a group of people that were happy to call
her a friend. I met her for the first time at the Internet
café where my husband Des works, about nine months
ago; no doubt she was there to email you her latest story.
As we Irish say, we got on like a house on fire and never
looked back.
Although there was a 25-year age difference we both enjoyed
the friendship very much, and I hope I gave her as much
as she gave me. We would sit over a glass of red wine and
olives at the Blue café she loved, just talking,
laughing, watching the ocean under moonlight and would
say to each other "how lucky are we"?
She loved
her life here and lived for each day, said she was done
traveling and Calpe was it. I was very pleased when your
sister's Michelle [Iran] and Soraya with your brother
Jamshid decided to scatter your mom's ashes in the Mediterranean,
it felt right and the perfect ending to her life's
story.
I miss her a lot but am happy to have known her even
for a short while and will certainly not forget her in
a hurry.
Kind regards,
Lolie
Hi Jahanshan
Just thought I'd add a few lines to Lolie's letter. On
the web site you said your mother lived alone, I just wanted
to assure you that she was not 'lonely'.
I met her in the
internet cafe where I work and introduced her to my wife
'Lolie'. This opened up a large circle of people who all
became her friends.
I have attached a picture of Lolie & Rose
so you can see how happy she was over this past year. It
was taken outside a restaurant up the mountains about 6
months ago.
Best regards,
Des McGregor
Calpe
Spain
To top
12
years ago I went back to Abadan. I went to # 110 Braim, the door
was open, the house was empty. I walked in and
stood there
in the middle of the round entrance hall, where
my favorite paintings used to hang on the wall. I
looked around and it all came back, the colors, the music
and the magic. The sense of possibility and choices in
life. 
*
I think I got it