My brother Jamshid Ghajar (we have the same mother, different fathers) called me last week. The phone rang, I didn’t pick it up as is usually the case and his voice went on the answering machine: “Hey… Jan-Sha… It’s Jamshid… Are you there?”
I picked up the phone as soon as I heard his name. I hadn’t spoken to him for more than a year. My fault, basically. Not only do I refuse to call people (loving relatives and friends included) I actively avoid them. Part of the reason why I answered the phone was that I thought maybe he’s become a father. As a handsome, successful neurosurgeon, he was one of the most eligible bachelors in New York. Then two years ago he finally got married at age 54 (he looks and acts 20 years younger :o)
“So are you a father now?”
He laughs. “No… not yet!”
Well, I guarantee you he’s going to have a kid very soon. He and his lovely wife are very ready to raise a family.
I thought maybe Jamshid’s in town to follow up on his brain research at UC Berkeley [see: The predictive brain state: timing deficiency in traumatic brain injury?]. No… he wanted to talk to me about an article in iranian.com that had stirred some trouble. I listened and agreed with most things he said, namely the problem with anonymous writers and those who use false names. But I said in the end, the authors identity is less important than what they have to say.
Before the call was over I asked Jamshid about any new projects he may be involved with. One is his Brain Trauma Foundation which has been hired by the US Defense Department to create a device that would evaluate a soldier’s brain injuries in seconds. [See: Article in Wall Street Journal Health Blog].
While I was looking for a recent photo of Jamshid on google to make him “Iranian of the day“, I found his 1996 interview on Charlie Rose along with the New Yorker author who did a feature on him [see: Life Saver]:
