The Iranian Times

Tuesday, November 10, 1998 / Aban 19, 1377, No. 602


Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Shahin & Sepehr

CDnow


    Baba Taher


Names

Giving Batul a chance
Changing one's name for practical purposes

By Guive Mirfendereski

Hamid's letter, "What do I do? I am Italian," brought a few smiles and a flood of memories. With a name like mine -- Guive Mirfendereski -- you can imagine how many times in a day I have to spell it all out or explain each name's origin. At times, when prudence or productivity dictates, Guive becomes an imaginative combination of Guy (after Guy de-somebody, the French writer) and Yves (after Yves Mon-somebody, the French matinee idol). Oh why couldn't my parents agree on either name?

Of course, Mirfendereski suddenly becomes Polish depending on the circumstances. In the summer of '86, I had decided that when calling people, particularly in the Washington bureaucracy, I would introduce my self as Guido Murphy. One day I called the undersecretary for-something-or-other at the Department of Commerce to discuss the import classification for Turkish broadleaf tobacco. When the receptionist asked my name, I triumphantly declared "Guido Murphy." "How do you spell Guido," she asked in ernest... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

What's Cookin'?

Cook Islands News is the daily newspaper of the Cook Islands, South Pacific, New Zealand. It is published from Monday to Saturday on Rarotonga and contains local and political news stories, sporting and other events, letters and features... CLICK HERE


    Anyway

Iranian in Miss Asia USA

From Persian.com

Sometimes you just have to STOP and smell the flowers. Well, on November 15, you can see for yourself what Persian flower is all about--Jhanet Mizban will represent Iran in Miss Asia USA 1999 in Los Angeles. But you have to buy your tickets before November 1st, otherwise, ... DEATILS HERE

More Letters

* Sufis were great frauds

Glasse writers: The discussion is anecdotal rather than philosophical [Iranica article: "Refusing to bow to Adam"]. The material is tendentious; its goal is to show that evil exists within God; the Sufis who are cited are merely dualist Manicheans disguised as Muslims; they are no more profound than Jehovah's Witnesses.

The premise is actually rather simple minded; it intrigues because it entails a fatal contradiction of good and evil within the Principle, a contradiction which cannot be resolved. It can however, be avoided altogether. One doesn't have to take the bait... FULL TEXT

* Film: Mehrjui and pre-79 cinema in New York

Mark your calendars: During November 13 - December 3 Walter Reade Theater in New York will present a retrospective of Dariush Mehrjoui's films plus films by other directors made before 1979. Be there... PROGRAM INFO

Thanks to Babak Nassirian

* Film: Mehrjui in Washington, DC

Dariush Mehrjoui will present his latest film "Golabi" ("The Pear") at Washington DC's American Film institute on November 24.


Book of the Week

A Persian Requiem

By Simin Daneshvar
Translated by Roxane Zand

The first published novel by an Iranian woman and one of the most widely read novels in Iran.

Click here to read about this book

Recent featured books

THE IRANIAN
Bookstore

New! Bestsellers
New! Books on Rumi

More news

Turkey starts building gas pipeline

TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Iranian rial fell to historic lows on Monday, losing 2.8 percent against the dollar since late October on inflation fears and concerns that the latest Iraq crisis could lead to open conflict. Businessmen said the U.S. dollar fetched as much as 7,050 rials on Tehran's illegal but active black market, compared to about 6,850 rials in late October ... FULL TEXT

Majlis discusses plummeting carpet exports

TEHRAN, Nov 10 (AFP) - Iran's parliament met in closed session on Tuesday to examine plummeting carpet exports, the state's second most important source of revenue, state radio announced ... FULL TEXT

Russia's Tupolev seeking to build planes in Iran

TEHRAN, Nov 10 (AFP) -Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev is in Iran looking for a partner to begin local production of passenger planes, Iranian radio reported Tuesday ... FULL TEXT

Iran to export... chocolate

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Iran expects to export $300 million worth of food stuffs this year (ends March 20, 1999), including $100 million worth of chocolate... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Iran puts out one forest fire, contains second

TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iranian firefighters on Tuesday extinguished a raging forest fire and contained another blaze threatening a nature reserve in northwest Iran, officials said. Wildfires fanned by winds destroyed 170 hectares (420 acres) of woodland and pasture in 12 hours on Tuesday near Piranshahr on the border with Iraq before being put out, a local official told Iran's news agency IRNA... FULL TEXT

"Ila": A woman alone

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - "Ila," a play by Mohammad Charmshir is about a woman whose husband leaves for the war front shortly after their marriage. All alone, "Ila" imagines what her life would have been like if ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Camping in UAE

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - National soccer team will set up training camp in the UAE next week, plus the latest news surrounding the team ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN



$ Rate

The dollar now offered at up to 705-710 tomans

Source: Sehaty Exchange (U.S.) Tel: 602-595-0777

Business news


The Web

Iran

Brief history of Iran

"Around 6000-4000 BC... the [Russian] tribes that immigrated to the west came to be called Europeans. People that went to the southern areas are known to historians as 'Indo-Iranians'..."

Beyond Iran

Brief history of humanity

"I hope to give you a perspective on human evolution, one going back almost four million years..."

More web sites


Quote Unquote

New name

[Changing a name] is about being able to communicate without having to account for or be interrupted or prejudiced by queries about national origin or to encumber others with a name which can hardly be pronounced.

Guive Mirfendereski
"Giving Batul a chance"
The Iranian
Nov 10, 1998


Photo of the Day

Untitled

More photos


Music

Musician of the Week

Sandy

Four songs from the Abadani band's latest album

Music artists index


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