The Iranian Times

Friday December 24, 1999 / Dey 3, 1378, No. 875


Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Flower delivery in Iran

Iranian books


    Khayyam


Family

Thinking of you
Never got to meet my Amu Hamid and Ameh Nahid

By Roozbeh Shirazi
December 24, 1999
The Iranian

I watch American grandparents beam over their new grandchildren, aunts and uncles chide their nieces about colleges and boyfriends, and I watch cousins play chess and chase each other around while uncles get quietly drunk with nephews in a corner.

I use these images and then desperately try to substitute the faces of American strangers with Iranian ones -- the grandfathers who I never got to meet, my Amu Hamid and my Ameh Nahid and Ameh Aghdas and Ameh Pari. I try to picture me laughing and talking about women with my arms around my cousins Babak, Arash and Miad -- whose voices I hear once or twice a year -- instead our awkward Noruz fiber optic family experiences >>> GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

The spy who knew too much
Saeed Emami in his own words

December 1999, (Payam Emrooz) -- Four years before his mysterious "suicide" in prison, Saeed Emami, a senior director at the Intelligence Ministry accused of involvement in the chain murders of dissidents, gave a talk to students in Hamadan.

He discussed his encounter with political prisoners and what he considered ideological threats to the Islamic Republic. A video of his talk was recently shown to a group of students in Tehran >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


    Anyway

Joonoon-e Jesus

BBC World Service

December 24, 1999 - Israel is beefing up its mental health services as it prepares for an outbreak of Jerusalem Syndrome, a condition which convinces thousands of tourists they are Jesus or another biblical figure.

It has been estimated about 40,000 people will suffer biblical delusions during their Christmas visit to the Holy Land >>> FULL TEXT


More Letters

* Not the center of the world

Ramin Tabib writes: I truly appreciate Ms. Shashaani's earnest attempt to demonstrate yet another "borrowed idea" taken from good old Persia and enacted in the West ["Borrowed ideas"]. But her idea of Christmas being a borrowed Persian concept is at best questionable.

May I suggest that Persians were not the only ancient civilization that worshipped the sun and celebrated the winter solstice. Most ancient civilizations did! As they worshiped the sun, there was common fear among people that the shorter days during the winter solstice meant that the sun was about to abandon them or punish them with bad harvest....

Ancient Persian civilization was rich in tradition and festivities, but may we all accept that we are not the center of the world and never were >>> FULL TEXT

* Sacred marriage

Nikan writes: I was indeed interested in your summary of Zoroastrian divorce laws ["Zoroastrian divorce"]. I am a Zoroastrian and do believe that marriage is a sacred contract that should not be broken. The majority of times, Zoroastrians do not get divorces, very few. Well, it was great to read your article.


* Academic: Travel grants to Iran

The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) offers travel grants for brief visits to the countries of Central/Eastern Europe, the Newly Independent States of Eurasia, Mongolia, Turkey, and Iran for projects in the humanities and social sciences. These grants are for projects which do not require any administrative assistance or logistical support (such as placement or access to archives, housing, visas, travel, etc.) >>> DETAILS HERE

SELL TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE


Books of the Week

* Saaniyeh-yeh aakhar (1999)
Y2K issues in Iran
By Dr. Ali Parandeh

* Barandeh-haa ham baazandeh-and (1999)
A memoir by a former mayor of Tehran, with photos
By Ahmad Nafisi

* Jazireh sargardaani (2nd edition, 1998)
Novel
By Simin Daneshvar

* Mumia va assal (1996)
Novel
By Shahriar Mandanipour

* Mehr-e giaah (1998)
Novel
ByAmir Hassan Cheheltan

See more Iranian books for sale

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Bookstore


Video of the Week

Through the olive trees

This is Abbas Kiarostami's most romantic film (English subtitles). It is the third part of a trilogy set in northern Iran. For other Kiarostami videos, click here.

THE IRANIAN
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More news

Yazdi wants to curb press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The government should curb the press before its ``unlimited'' freedom had serious consequences, a leading hard-line cleric in Iran said Friday. ``Stop this trend of insults. We have to do something to stop it, not just talk about stopping it,'' Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi told worshippers at the traditional Friday prayers sermon at Tehran University.>>> FULL TEXT

Turkey secures foreign credit for final phase of Turkey-Iran gas line

ANKARA, Dec 24 (AFP) - Turkey has secured a credit of 102 million dollars from Spain to build the final phase of Turkey's section of a pipeline to carry Iranian gas, the Turkish state-run oil company BOTAS said Friday. A BOTAS statement said it signed an agreement with Spain's Banco Santander Hispano on Thursday under the guarantorship of the Turkish treasury >>> FULL TEXT

Documentaries

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Internews, an American non-profit company, has expressed interest in cooperating with Iranian documentary film makers, including a film festival in Iran >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Gizellah Sinaie

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Gizella Varga Sinaie is a Hungarian painter who has been living in Iran for more than three decades. Her latest works are now on exhibit >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Khosro Sinaie

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Khosro Sinaie (Gizella's husband), who is better known as a documentary film maker, has been awarded for his research in the making of his new film "Aroos-e Atash" >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Zia-Pour

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Painter Jalil Zia-Pour has died at the age of 79 >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Iran to play in US after controls eased

TEHRAN, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Iran said on Friday it had agreed to play a friendly soccer match in the United States after receiving assurances that players would not be fingerprinted upon arrival, a procedure Tehran has denounced as offensive. The match would mark the first time the U.S. has played host to an Iranian sports team since the 1979 Islamic revolution >>> FULL TEXT

Hashemian

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Vahid Hashemian, one of the three Iranian players in Hamburg, says his injuries have prevented him from joining the national team in Kish >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

It's cool

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Rasoul Khatibi who was recently acquired by Hamburg, says he's not upset that he was not invited to the national team >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


BBC

Persian Service

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The Web

Iran

Radio Israel

Israeli radio's Persian service web site is quite interesting, actually. You can listen or read daily news in Persian. Just design a nicer page, for the love of Moses.

Beyond Iran

My Century

BBC World Service thematic weekly feature focuses on a particular aspect of life in the 20th century.

More web sites


Quote Unquote

Reminder

Ancient Persian civilization was rich in tradition and festivities, but may we all accept that we are not the center of the world and never were.

-- Ramin Tabib
Letter to The Iranian
December 24, 1999


Photo of the Day

Air pollution


Music

Musician of the Week

Maryam Heydarzadeh

Music artists index