 Pet chicken
Man,
I was so happy; finally an animal had decided to stay and not
abandon me
Shahrokh Nikfar
October 5, 2004
iranian.com
As a kid growing up in Iran, I always hoped to someday have a cat or a dog, but
most Iranians, don't believe in having pets in their homes! You might see
a canary or some other exotic bird in a cage at someone's house next to
a fountain or in the garden but rarely anything else.
Back when I was kid, I frequently brought home stray cats and
dogs since my parents always refused to get me a pet. I would then
give them a bath, use a blow dry them, feed them, and even give
them a name. My parents would then show some objection, but never
had the heart to take the pet away from me.
At bed time, I would
then take the dog or the cat and have them sleep in my bedroom.
But each morning, as I woke up, they would be gone, and my parents
would always tell me then that the dog or the cat had to go home
because they had missed their families.
Well, that was the routine till one day, on the way home from
school, I detected a small young chicken frantically running around
the street and trying to avoid the traffic. The poor thing was
about to get run over by the oncoming cars, and I had to save him!
So, there I was running around in circles trying to catch a chicken
on a busy Tehran street.
I am not sure how the chicken and I both
survived and din't get run over by the Iranian drivers who
think of traffic lights only as a means for decoration. But having
developed skills of agility at school by having to dodge away
from the bullies' grabs and tackles on a daily basis, I managed
to catch this roadrunner safely and take it home with me.
 As usual, I gave it a bath, and used a blow dryer to dry him
up. By that time, the poor chicken was probably wishing he had
gotten run over by a car earlier. After feeding it some rice, my
parents insisted that I keep the chicken in the back yard and not
in the house, to which I obliged.
The next morning I woke up, expecting
for my new pet to be gone, but to my surprise, he was still in
the back yard, being fed small pieces of bread by my mom. Man,
I was so happy; finally an animal had decided to stay and not
abandon me. I officially had a pet now and better yet my parents
were actually
ok with feeding and taking care of it.
All of a sudden my life had changed for the better. Everyday,
I went to school and told stories about my new pet to eager listeners.
Having rescued a chicken from the jaws of death on a busy Tehran
street and getting to keep it as a pet had made me a popular kid
and earned me some respect at school. And respect was something
that I could have used a lot of since I was the youngest in my
class.
Everyday, I ran home from school to play with my chicken. I would
go to the back yard chasing him around and pretending to be the
Coyote and him the roadrunner, till we were both totally exhausted.
Then I would pick him up, pet him a little, feed him some rice
and then take him inside to watch some cartoons on TV.
A happy month passed by, and one day as usual I came home anxiously
to play with my chicken. I looked all around the back yard and
inside the house but there was no sign of him. Surprised, I went
to my mom and asked, "Mom, where is my chicken?" To which
she replied, "Oh, I am sorry, he missed his family and wanted
to go back home. Here taste this chicken, I have used a new recipe."
 Well, I have used my mom's recipe many times and
it is really good. So today, I am going to share with you my mom's
Persian recipe for chicken.
The ingredients are:
-- 1 fresh chicken ...
About
Shahrokh Nikfar's The Persian Hour is aired
on KYRS FM 95.3 in Spokane, Washington. The show is broadcasted
live each Saturday from 12:00 to 1:00 pm and you can catch it
on the net at kyrs.org. The
program's goals are: to promote education and
understanding
of Iranian culture and
to provide
diverse
cultural entertainment. This program will usually consist of Iranian
music and poetry, commentaries and story telling, interviews with
people who have lived in or visited Iran, and on occasion sharing
of some favorite recipes or introduction of a new book or a movie.
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Pet chicken
