Library shelves creak and groan under the weight of learned tomes. They contain more books than you and I could ever plough through – even if we were to make it our life’s work AND enrol on a speed-reading course. Ought we to feel uncomfortable about the amount of information we are never likely to digest?
Might there be something missing from our lives? Well, that rather depends on whether you believe that the universe is essentially complicated – or basically simple.
Right now, I can safely assume the latter. What I don't know, won't hurt me and I don't need to know. So I will just relax.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
"Watch please as I swing this crystal pendulum back and forth. Fix your gaze on the stone and follow it. Back and forth. Back and forth. You are feeling sleepy. Very sleepy. When I count to three, you will descend into a deep trance. One, two, three. OK. Now tell me honestly please, what are you really trying to achieve in your current situation? Thank you. That makes a lot more sense. When I count to three again, you will wake up and remember nothing. One, two, three. Ha! "
....That might come familiar to those of us who go to fortune tellers...or I don't know those hypnothisers...( is that what they are called!)....Anyway..not matter what they tell us, after a while, we get used to things the way they are. It doesn’t much matter whether they are good or bad, pleasing or disappointing, comfortable or awkward. We just become familiar with the world we know and we start to feel a little strange about change. But of course, nothing stays the same forever. Oddly, ironically, we encounter developments that once we couldn’t wait for. Yet we are not quite sure how we feel about these. I guess the key is to hold on for a bit ...step back and look at the direction with one more glance....
We all like to think of ourselves as invincible, infallible and immortal. Perhaps, in a way, we truly are all of these things. Invincible because, though others can sometimes hurt us, they can never destroy us. Infallible, because even when we appear to have made a mistake, we may have been doing the perfect thing for reasons that have yet to become clear. Immortal because, although our bodies do not live forever, our souls are made of energy. And energy has no beginning or end. Not convinced? Well, tough.....
....That might come familiar to those of us who go to fortune tellers...or I don't know those hypnothisers...( is that what they are called!)....Anyway..not matter what they tell us, after a while, we get used to things the way they are. It doesn’t much matter whether they are good or bad, pleasing or disappointing, comfortable or awkward. We just become familiar with the world we know and we start to feel a little strange about change. But of course, nothing stays the same forever. Oddly, ironically, we encounter developments that once we couldn’t wait for. Yet we are not quite sure how we feel about these. I guess the key is to hold on for a bit ...step back and look at the direction with one more glance....
We all like to think of ourselves as invincible, infallible and immortal. Perhaps, in a way, we truly are all of these things. Invincible because, though others can sometimes hurt us, they can never destroy us. Infallible, because even when we appear to have made a mistake, we may have been doing the perfect thing for reasons that have yet to become clear. Immortal because, although our bodies do not live forever, our souls are made of energy. And energy has no beginning or end. Not convinced? Well, tough.....
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
The devil, they say, is in the detail!!! aha... I'm not so sure myself. It's a very strange place for the Prince of Darkness to reside. Why hide there when you can walk abroad and wreak havoc in the world of general principles? You can spread plenty of paint with a broad brush and you can spread plenty of mischief with a broad-based assumption.
Can one really stir up quite as much trouble with some fiddly-widdly, petty, predicative factor?
I don't think it is the detail we need to look at...It is the big idea. Need to ask just one question, who does it benefit most?
Can one really stir up quite as much trouble with some fiddly-widdly, petty, predicative factor?
I don't think it is the detail we need to look at...It is the big idea. Need to ask just one question, who does it benefit most?
Monday, May 19, 2003
You can walk down the same street a thousand times and think you know all it contains. Then you can make that journey once more and find it full of surprises!! This may either be because something different has happened on the road... or in your head!!Often, our attitudes and expectations trap us in a dull world where little ever alters. Most of us only ever see what we want to see so it doesn't really matter how much there is to wonder at?...We will happily ignore it if it doesn't fit in with our big idea about what's going on. Until, that is, we get a surprise that hit us so bad that as they say 'we don't know..what hit us!' ...like today... with fresh eyes, I am starting to recognise fresh possibilities.
I try hard to be sensible. I follow rules religiously. I think of the most great people I have ever met/read about/known somehow and try to emulate their example. Ultimately though, it is all in vain. The problem, you see, is that we are living in a crazy world. It’s a madhouse and the most dangerously certifiable inhabitants are the ones who purport to be sane. I am not quite sure whether to laugh or cry about a certain factor. Laugh!...perhaps then I’ll see why it's not a problem after all. Cry!...perhaps then I'll feel better about lifes surprises...lies and deceits....
Whatever I do...I will always have a problem trusting others...and I will always be asking myself Why?...because no one else would have a reasonable explanation.....do you?
I try hard to be sensible. I follow rules religiously. I think of the most great people I have ever met/read about/known somehow and try to emulate their example. Ultimately though, it is all in vain. The problem, you see, is that we are living in a crazy world. It’s a madhouse and the most dangerously certifiable inhabitants are the ones who purport to be sane. I am not quite sure whether to laugh or cry about a certain factor. Laugh!...perhaps then I’ll see why it's not a problem after all. Cry!...perhaps then I'll feel better about lifes surprises...lies and deceits....
Whatever I do...I will always have a problem trusting others...and I will always be asking myself Why?...because no one else would have a reasonable explanation.....do you?
Some people think that the way to win an argument is to shout as loudly as possible. Others know that the true trick is to say as little as possible. If someone is wrong then sooner or later they will trip themselves up regardless of how much or how little they are challenged. Ok...I guess I could do that...The only trouble with this gloriously effective technique is that it requires the self-discipline of a saint! Which I don't think I am... In remaining silent one risks being unfairly accused of complicity. I guess it is important not to let the passion get the better of me. I suppose if I remain quiet and polite I will yet be presented with a perfect chance to prove an important point....ummmm would I though? or can I actually be quiet...??? ( stop shacking ur head u lot!!!)
Anyway isn't it true what folks say about 'Winning is for losers'? Of course their rational is that the people who are truly cool are not interested in petty point-scoring. They understand that "to get one over" on an opponent is to short-change yourself. It is to make an unfortunate trade - to swap a temporary state of euphoria for a permanent sense of sanguinity.
All who live on Funfair Earth should remember that the swings and the roundabouts never stop. For as long as you ride them, you will be up one moment and down the next.
I guess I shouldn't see my current difficulty as a challenge to rise to but as a chance to develop a deeper understanding!
Anyway isn't it true what folks say about 'Winning is for losers'? Of course their rational is that the people who are truly cool are not interested in petty point-scoring. They understand that "to get one over" on an opponent is to short-change yourself. It is to make an unfortunate trade - to swap a temporary state of euphoria for a permanent sense of sanguinity.
All who live on Funfair Earth should remember that the swings and the roundabouts never stop. For as long as you ride them, you will be up one moment and down the next.
I guess I shouldn't see my current difficulty as a challenge to rise to but as a chance to develop a deeper understanding!
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Happiness and sadness are two sides of one coin. Their relationship is as intricate and inseparable as the bond between day and night. To declare a preference for one over the other is to imply that you cannot see the hidden link. Does that mean that we must experience both in equal measures?
......Of course not. Those who love the night soon find a way to sleep throughout the day.
I guess what we need to remember is that "to desire anything too intensely brings potential for disappointment!".
......Of course not. Those who love the night soon find a way to sleep throughout the day.
I guess what we need to remember is that "to desire anything too intensely brings potential for disappointment!".
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Shall we have an open discussion on this? I don't even know how to set that up on my blog....but if you have comments on 'Is a hand just a hand?' u can email me on Nikoog@hotmail.com....
I promise to post the responses.....as I will the conversation I had with a friend of mine tonight on this subject!!
I promise to post the responses.....as I will the conversation I had with a friend of mine tonight on this subject!!
oh yes...I meant to say how my exam went today....god....I seemed to have a mental block as soon as I looked at the questions...I bluffed my way through corporate strategy...But the funny thing is that...as soon as I got in the car...I kept remembering the right answers....What? Couldn't this come to my head half an hour ealier!!!? I guess such is life!!! Yet again.....
It's a funny old thing really. We pride ourselves on our intellect yet there are millions of things our brains can never comprehend. Try, wrapping your mind around the concept of infinity......Or eternity! We can use those words but we cannot grasp their meaning. When we sit down to imagine a universe that goes on forever and ever, we just start to boggle. Likewise, when we think about time that has no beginning and no end. So, if we cannot understand such fundamental factors - basic building blocks of existence itself - how can we expect to understand anything else?
I guess sometimes our heart is talking much more sense than our heads!!! Don't u agree?
I guess sometimes our heart is talking much more sense than our heads!!! Don't u agree?
Monday, May 12, 2003
Why is it that when there's an awkward topic of conversation, people will often avoid it? They will decide not to mention a particular problem. They will step politely around the edges of a conflict or disagreement. That's very nice in one way but it can create a false sense of security – to say nothing of a very shallow dialogue! Nothing ever improves because nothing is properly discussed. Misunderstandings multiply because no exchanges are entirely honest.....well i guess that is life...ha?
Of course, if our expectations are unreasonable, they can never be met. Everyone knows that, don't they? Well, everyone may know it but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is true!!! Is it now!???? There are many myths and misconceptions that the inhabitants of this planet cling to with great faith....Many subscribe to the notion that it is best to cut your coat according to your cloth and to work within your limitations.
In conjunction with that...a close friend of mine is under the illusion that Anything is possible... in fact...she claims she has empirical evidence to prove...on the other hand i can give her empirical evidence contradictory to her believe...any how...she seems to win...once again....now my mind bares the question.....Should that last sentence read, "Anything within reason?"....or No! Perhaps she is right and I should be more ambitious?!
In conjunction with that...a close friend of mine is under the illusion that Anything is possible... in fact...she claims she has empirical evidence to prove...on the other hand i can give her empirical evidence contradictory to her believe...any how...she seems to win...once again....now my mind bares the question.....Should that last sentence read, "Anything within reason?"....or No! Perhaps she is right and I should be more ambitious?!
Sunday, May 11, 2003
If a situation makes us uncomfortable, it usually seems easier to ignore it than to deal with it. We figure that if we just grit our teeth and put up with things, they will change of their own accord. Or we just decide to do our best to accept things. Often we find that we can put up with an awful lot, as long as we somehow find a way to push it to the back of our mind. Well ..I do anyway! Yet, whenever I try to kid myself about anything, I compromise the ability to recognise reality. That’s never good. Sometimes iI have to give this putting away business a break and have a look at what’s been swept under the carpet.
You know when you find life frustrating. And when dreams just don’t seem to come true, and hopes get raised, then cruelly dashed. After a while, you are suppose to grow wise or so, at least, I think. Then you start lowering your standards. Expecting less. Protecting yurself from disappointment by setting only the most modest aspirations.
But then you wake up...it is Like a rubber ball, you keep bouncing back. And hope that every so often, you score big...and hope for chance to work some very real magic.
You know when you find life frustrating. And when dreams just don’t seem to come true, and hopes get raised, then cruelly dashed. After a while, you are suppose to grow wise or so, at least, I think. Then you start lowering your standards. Expecting less. Protecting yurself from disappointment by setting only the most modest aspirations.
But then you wake up...it is Like a rubber ball, you keep bouncing back. And hope that every so often, you score big...and hope for chance to work some very real magic.
Friday, May 09, 2003
Athens....Last weekend!!
Sunday
6:30 am
Oh for god sake…what is razor-sharp object piercing into my eyelids…I try and to force myself to open my eyes…but I fail desperately …put my head under the duvet and turn…
6:35 am
…I can hear a loud…ZZZzzzzz which occasionally becomes …Khhhhorrrr with a random frequency…I toss and turn a few more times before my brain gets into gear…I close my eye lid…and see bright little dots…and damn…. razor-sharp array of light…close my eyes again in form of lady bird trying to escape a naughty 7 year old boys trap and now the room is spinning…bloody hell what is that scratching noise?
6:37 am
I look towards the light again…oh I see…it must be the sun coming through the curtains…what time is it I think to myself? I fish for my mobile phone on the arm of the sofa bed and I read 4:37…ummm trying to get brain to function arithmetically and do a plus 2 unconsciously!!!
It is 6:37 am in Athens, I am sleeping on the sofa bed in Alexandra’s flat next to the queen of snoring…man I wonder how her husband sleep with her at night… R, or chipmunk as we call her…since she squeaks in a chipmunk’s style when she is high...normally on Pepsi that is, is a friend of mine from university.
Now I remember this happened last night too…and I wowed that I will get Dee to sleep on the sofa tonight…damn I was too tired to remember….
6:40 am
I slip out of the bed and walk towards the window, I can hear the horns from outside…wow Greeks are early risers…it is Sunday for god sake! I pull the curtain away and open the first door (two doors instead of double glazing…odd!)…and I can hear a man’s voice shouting… ‘kalimera’ , which reminds me of calamari and the fact that I am hungry…but in actual facts means good morning in Greek!
As I open the door to the balcony….the scent of orange tree blossoms ( bahar narenj) hits me and reminds me of my grand fathers place in Chalous…for a few moment I had flash backs of the garden and the little ‘Parchin’…and orange trees above the little pool ( houz!)…!!
Back in Athens, it is almost 7 am and people are just coming home from the late night adventures, I am not surprised, these guys start going out at 3 am…I feel so old!! I wanted to go to bed at 1 am…and Dee and Alexandra had to drag me along in the busy streets where people were sitting outside of Café’s in the pavement drinking merrily…and I was pulling faces in style of ‘mishe bekhabam’!
I was kind of woken up by the time we got to this club called the Privilege, was pretty amusing. A big barn type club with roman style furniture and red velvet setting, a delicate but amazing chandelier and get this…no roof…so you could see the stars while you are drunk on Orzo ( some red vodka thing!), comfy sofa’s…not too mention good looking Greek blokes!!
I read some where that; Alexander the great followed a policy of integration between the Greeks and the Persian communities, encouraging marriages and applying the formula of magnanimity and generosity, which had formerly brought success to Cyrus.
I smiled to that thought as I recalled last nights experience…ummm…I guess I couldn’t argue with Alexander!
7:05 am
Found my way to the kitchen through suitcases, lighters, and something sharp that I am guessing was some ones hair pin and make an attempt to make some toast! But am too sleepy and go back to bed! Put the pillow over my ears to lock out the ‘Khor khor’…and the merry Greeks already up in their balconies….
7:10 am
…tossing and turning….I thought after a while, you get used to a new mattress. You find a position in which you can just about sleep. You learn to lie with your back away from the bumpiest bit, turning your feet so that they don’t fall into the saggy part. And when you finally get to rest on your own bed, it feels odd, wrong somehow. You almost miss the contortion.
10:30 am
What the heck is going on now!!?…I feel a kick…and the following squeaky noise…oi…wake up…! Move your bum…it suffocates me…!!
WHAT? ...here is the queen of sophisticated sleeping telling me my very attractive (I would like to think!) Iranian style bum (pear shaped...in case u are wondering) suffocating her…while I have hardly had a few hours sleep from her snoring…I could swear at her in Farsi…but that won’t go well as she knows all the responses better than me and her memory is rather good...in fact she can be Mnemosyne… (i.e. the Titan of memory and the mother of Muses!!!)…so I leave it at that…pull the duvet to my side and kick her out of the bed….
10:40 am
Dee is very mad at R (you can see her infuriating looks...like I am going to take revenge so bad...u won’t know what hit u!)…she has just woken the whole house up…with excitement of course…come on look at the sun…we are going to miss the ferry!
Oh yes…we are suppose to go to an Island…damn…I wish we haven’t mentioned that to her!
11:30 am
There was no point in resistance…we looked like the ‘ghoshoone shekast khordeh englisa’ in Daee Jan Napoleon’s war stories verses Mash Qasem’s incredible courage and credibility!
I got out of bed while R has put the music from Greek MTV…’go shorty it is your birthday’ to full blast…So I made the run for the shower before I get attacked by 3 other chicks to fight for it!!
I have now my Ice coffee out of the blender sitting in the balcony in the sun watching the people go by…the lady on the opposite balcony is airing her sheets while the one next door is reminding me of a scene we familiar to us all in Iran just before Nourouz and so called ‘Khane Tekani’…yes you guessed it…she is airing the carpets…’Farsh mitekooneh..’….this made me smile ….and then the funniest thing happened…I heard a van passing by with a loud speaker…selling vegetables…oh man…they have ‘Namaki’s and ‘Sabzi foroush’ here too…amazing!!
I guess little things make a big difference. Deft, delicate touches can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. They can make something dull seem fascinating. They can make something cheap seem expensive. I am not trying to claim that style counts for more than substance but in a surprising number of incidences, the two have almost equal weight. Right now, I seem to have the bulk of what I need… a break from the ordinary!
3:00 pm
Finally, we are on the Ferry on the way to Hydra, an Island that we have been told by Alexandra has no cars and the means of transport are beloved donkeys!!!
Settling in my plane like seat on the ferry, I opened my book to read, but my eyes are too tired and I just decided to let them wonder off.
The city that gave birth to democracy, Athens brims with culture, history and currently builders. There’s a heck of a lot of re-development taking place to resolve the usually grid locked streets in time for the Summer Olympics which return in 2004. Athens has always been a city of change and although much of the modern city is a result of post-war dollars from the United States, a lot of its history is coloured by the occupation of the Romans and Turks. While the Parthenon can’t fail to impress, standing atop of the Acropolis for the last two thousand six hundred odd years, a lot of the cultural treasures were looted by other nations in the eighteenth century. My history is not good, but I guess they do hold a lot of grudge against the Iranians…after all we weren’t’ exactly friends 2000 years ago were we!?
We all learned the story from fifth-grade world history and ninth-grade civics. In the beginning, all was darkness, except for some little pockets of organized life in China, India, and the eastern Mediterranean. Then light broke upon the Aegean Sea, and the Greeks discovered democracy and the worth of the individual. The light was almost extinguished by Christian superstition but began to shine all the brighter in the Renaissance and Reformation, bursting into flame during the Enlightenment, which culminated in the American and French Revolutions, and, since then, Americans (and their European followers) have marched unswervingly in their progress toward Huntington's "liberty, equality, individualism, democracy, rule of law, private enterprise" -- to say nothing of free abortions, Jacuzzis in every Holiday Inn, international human rights, gourmet food you can heat up in the microwave, fresh Mexican fruit from a market run by illegal Korean aliens, freedom from religions that claim to possess the truth ... !!
I quite enjoyed the little Café culture in the cobble streets near the Acropolis and around town.
Apart from the streets night life everything here reminds me of home, the music, the people, the city’s structure and definitely the yellow cabs with the old Taxi drivers which have put up plastic flowers and tacky decorations in their cars…flash backs of Orange Peykans!!
As we walked up the hill yesterday to see the Acropolis, had Frappe’s ( Greek version of Iced coffee!), Souvlaki and enjoyed the 28 degree sun ( since we have already had out one day of summer in London…!)…I couldn’t help thinking; As curious as they were about other cultures, the Greeks divided the world between Greeks and "the others," whom they referred to as bárbaroi, a word that may be an onomatopoetic rendering of foreign babble. Although the term "barbarian" certainly included such wild peoples of the North as Illyrians and Scyths, it was more typically applied to the degenerate subjects of the great empires of the East, especially the Persians.
Herodotus, who was the first extant writer to have taken up the conflict between the two civilizations of the Mediterranean, spent a fair amount of time hopping from island to island, roaming through Egypt, and living among the barbarians. The results of his casual investigations (or "histories," as he called them) form the most entertaining (and perhaps even the most honest) work of history ever written. As a Greek, Herodotus had no doubts about the superiority of his own civilization, but he had grown up cheek-by-jowl with Carian bárbaroi, and he was fully aware of the splendid virtues of the Persians and of the cultural antiquity of the Egyptians. His openness to alien cultures extended to the point of gullibility, since he appears to have uncritically accepted nearly every preposterous story told to him by Egyptian priests.
Well despite what we read of history and the fact that Greeks ‘be khoone ma teshnan’….they seemed very nice warm and hospitable people…even to me!
4:00 pm
I was woken up…again…must be the 10th time today…by R...screaming come on the deck and see the view…so I get up tumbling and walk up on the deck…!
I have to give it to her…it was an amazing view of the little Islands…little houses and no sign of pollution!
4:30 pm
I can hear the siren…and there we are… Hydra…a little Island a short distance away from Athens, wow….how pretty is this!
We are too excited to find a place for staying the night…so we hit the beach and catch the last couple of hours the sun lounging around the stone hedged beach…drinking…talking…and a dip!
7:45 pm
We sat there quietly watching the sunset…no one said a word…I guess everyone was deep in their own little worlds…R must have missed hubby and is probably thinking how romantic would have been if he was here….Dee must be thinking ...can’t wait to get some sleep…Alexandra is probably dreaming of how to get rid of us…and I am just totally lost in the moment and can’t think of much but tomorrow!
Now, let me ask you a difficult question. Is it true that we need help to see the future? Or can we see it perfectly well? Could it be that we are concerned about our vision? Are we hoping for a second opinion or an alternative point of view? Are we, perhaps, a little overwhelmed by what appears to be looming so large on our horizon?
I guess no matter what way we think about it and how much evidence we get that we can perfectly see the future or the events of tomorrow... but we are just having some difficulty in believing the evidence of our eyes. Shall we say if what we see is inspiring, trust it? And if it is not, change it? What if we ignore it?
8:15 pm
“Izzy Wizzy let’s get busy!” That’s what Sooty used to say, before tapping his magic wand firmly on the counter. Or rather, that’s what Mr Corbett used to say that Sooty had said. Sooty, of course, was a glove puppet – famous for never speaking a word. People had to interpret his gestures. Which brings me on to this weekend’s kind of magic… For as long as we believe that power rests in someone else’s hands, namely our beloved R ( although unlike Sooty…She can’t stop talking!)…we will be ok…so she takes the lead…we walk around…brows the little shops…admire the little white and blue houses and retire to eat…at a little place by the sea…where we can see the stars…the lights of the boats in the bay and the soothing Greek music coming from the bar below…!!
And yum yum…Sea food Linguini with Greek Salad, Calamari’s and fisheggs!…I don’t think I have ever eaten so much at once!!!
Monday
00:30 am
Alexandra and I have excused ourselves and retired to our little room which we managed to rent with the help of the guys from the restaurant, and have left Dee and R on the Pier…!! I am too tired and I fall sleep as I hit the pillow!!!
The bed is actually a bit hard…but I am too exhausted to even care….
00:45 am
ringggggggg ringggggg…..what now….I can hear a mobile ring…I reach out for mine and press the red button…back to my deep sleep again…
ringggggg…….blurtttttttttttttt….this time I actually manage to open my eyes…the green light is on and it says ‘Dee’ on the screen…I guess some where in my brain I try to compute why is she calling me at this time…but obviously… I press the red button again…as you do!
Riiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggg….damn…YES…I blurt out…she is being very conscious of my bad mood and quietly says…”ummmm we are kind of lost!!!” That wakes me up….but can’t think so I just hand the phone to Alexandra who is now up as well with all the commotion..!
01:00 am
A big bang followed with giggles and damn…knocks on our door…Dee wants her bag which is in our room….this better be the last of them!! I am knackered…and very ‘Saggy and bad akhlagh’…..
01:05 am
Silence….. finally I can sleep……
01:07 am
Wishful thinking that was…knocking on the door again….
Now R wants her sun glasses…..WHAT???? Can’t it wait till tomorrow?...
Obviously not…..
6:30 am
ddddderedeee………..Alexandra’s alarm….
Wake up we are going to miss the ferry …..Oh my GOD……
07:00 am
We have managed to drag very moody R out of bed….decently dressed and outside….going down the stairs in the little Alley…everyone is kind of moaning and groaning….
07:10 am
the donkeys queued up to start the day….one of them is looking at me funny….’Dareh chap chap negah migone…’
What seems to be a zillion of cats have lined up by the fisher man’s boats and where they all jump in for little fishes thrown for them is rather amusing….
07:15 am
Siren…..the boat is here….
Got some sleep on the boat …thank god for that…
11:00 am
Back at Alexandra’s flat…R is feeling rather poorly…can’t figure out if it is sea sickness…lack of sleep or simply too much talking!
While we give her some tablets and put her in bed…Dee and I are getting ready to go SHOPPING…..hooray….
Human beings were born to shop. This is what they were placed upon the earth in order to do. The creator said, “Let there be people – and let them have credit cards. And let there be online catalogues for those who cannot get to the malls.” You doubt this? Then why, pray tell, are there so many retail outlets in every town centre? This is no haphazard accident of commerce – this is the divine will. Isn’t it? Then think. What else is there in life now that we can see as indispensable yet which actually matters far less …imagine?
So we hit the shops ……
10:30 pm
A day of shopping, more Frappe’s and Souvlaki and plenty of R’s sick ( sorry…..)…and we have only got couple of hours before our flight…
I sit outside in the balcony, smelling the Orange Tree blossoms ( bahar narenj)…and wish we didn’t have to leave this early…and try to inhale as much as I can to take a piece back with me for mum and Dad…especially Dad…I bet he has missed it so much!
Sunday
6:30 am
Oh for god sake…what is razor-sharp object piercing into my eyelids…I try and to force myself to open my eyes…but I fail desperately …put my head under the duvet and turn…
6:35 am
…I can hear a loud…ZZZzzzzz which occasionally becomes …Khhhhorrrr with a random frequency…I toss and turn a few more times before my brain gets into gear…I close my eye lid…and see bright little dots…and damn…. razor-sharp array of light…close my eyes again in form of lady bird trying to escape a naughty 7 year old boys trap and now the room is spinning…bloody hell what is that scratching noise?
6:37 am
I look towards the light again…oh I see…it must be the sun coming through the curtains…what time is it I think to myself? I fish for my mobile phone on the arm of the sofa bed and I read 4:37…ummm trying to get brain to function arithmetically and do a plus 2 unconsciously!!!
It is 6:37 am in Athens, I am sleeping on the sofa bed in Alexandra’s flat next to the queen of snoring…man I wonder how her husband sleep with her at night… R, or chipmunk as we call her…since she squeaks in a chipmunk’s style when she is high...normally on Pepsi that is, is a friend of mine from university.
Now I remember this happened last night too…and I wowed that I will get Dee to sleep on the sofa tonight…damn I was too tired to remember….
6:40 am
I slip out of the bed and walk towards the window, I can hear the horns from outside…wow Greeks are early risers…it is Sunday for god sake! I pull the curtain away and open the first door (two doors instead of double glazing…odd!)…and I can hear a man’s voice shouting… ‘kalimera’ , which reminds me of calamari and the fact that I am hungry…but in actual facts means good morning in Greek!
As I open the door to the balcony….the scent of orange tree blossoms ( bahar narenj) hits me and reminds me of my grand fathers place in Chalous…for a few moment I had flash backs of the garden and the little ‘Parchin’…and orange trees above the little pool ( houz!)…!!
Back in Athens, it is almost 7 am and people are just coming home from the late night adventures, I am not surprised, these guys start going out at 3 am…I feel so old!! I wanted to go to bed at 1 am…and Dee and Alexandra had to drag me along in the busy streets where people were sitting outside of Café’s in the pavement drinking merrily…and I was pulling faces in style of ‘mishe bekhabam’!
I was kind of woken up by the time we got to this club called the Privilege, was pretty amusing. A big barn type club with roman style furniture and red velvet setting, a delicate but amazing chandelier and get this…no roof…so you could see the stars while you are drunk on Orzo ( some red vodka thing!), comfy sofa’s…not too mention good looking Greek blokes!!
I read some where that; Alexander the great followed a policy of integration between the Greeks and the Persian communities, encouraging marriages and applying the formula of magnanimity and generosity, which had formerly brought success to Cyrus.
I smiled to that thought as I recalled last nights experience…ummm…I guess I couldn’t argue with Alexander!
7:05 am
Found my way to the kitchen through suitcases, lighters, and something sharp that I am guessing was some ones hair pin and make an attempt to make some toast! But am too sleepy and go back to bed! Put the pillow over my ears to lock out the ‘Khor khor’…and the merry Greeks already up in their balconies….
7:10 am
…tossing and turning….I thought after a while, you get used to a new mattress. You find a position in which you can just about sleep. You learn to lie with your back away from the bumpiest bit, turning your feet so that they don’t fall into the saggy part. And when you finally get to rest on your own bed, it feels odd, wrong somehow. You almost miss the contortion.
10:30 am
What the heck is going on now!!?…I feel a kick…and the following squeaky noise…oi…wake up…! Move your bum…it suffocates me…!!
WHAT? ...here is the queen of sophisticated sleeping telling me my very attractive (I would like to think!) Iranian style bum (pear shaped...in case u are wondering) suffocating her…while I have hardly had a few hours sleep from her snoring…I could swear at her in Farsi…but that won’t go well as she knows all the responses better than me and her memory is rather good...in fact she can be Mnemosyne… (i.e. the Titan of memory and the mother of Muses!!!)…so I leave it at that…pull the duvet to my side and kick her out of the bed….
10:40 am
Dee is very mad at R (you can see her infuriating looks...like I am going to take revenge so bad...u won’t know what hit u!)…she has just woken the whole house up…with excitement of course…come on look at the sun…we are going to miss the ferry!
Oh yes…we are suppose to go to an Island…damn…I wish we haven’t mentioned that to her!
11:30 am
There was no point in resistance…we looked like the ‘ghoshoone shekast khordeh englisa’ in Daee Jan Napoleon’s war stories verses Mash Qasem’s incredible courage and credibility!
I got out of bed while R has put the music from Greek MTV…’go shorty it is your birthday’ to full blast…So I made the run for the shower before I get attacked by 3 other chicks to fight for it!!
I have now my Ice coffee out of the blender sitting in the balcony in the sun watching the people go by…the lady on the opposite balcony is airing her sheets while the one next door is reminding me of a scene we familiar to us all in Iran just before Nourouz and so called ‘Khane Tekani’…yes you guessed it…she is airing the carpets…’Farsh mitekooneh..’….this made me smile ….and then the funniest thing happened…I heard a van passing by with a loud speaker…selling vegetables…oh man…they have ‘Namaki’s and ‘Sabzi foroush’ here too…amazing!!
I guess little things make a big difference. Deft, delicate touches can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. They can make something dull seem fascinating. They can make something cheap seem expensive. I am not trying to claim that style counts for more than substance but in a surprising number of incidences, the two have almost equal weight. Right now, I seem to have the bulk of what I need… a break from the ordinary!
3:00 pm
Finally, we are on the Ferry on the way to Hydra, an Island that we have been told by Alexandra has no cars and the means of transport are beloved donkeys!!!
Settling in my plane like seat on the ferry, I opened my book to read, but my eyes are too tired and I just decided to let them wonder off.
The city that gave birth to democracy, Athens brims with culture, history and currently builders. There’s a heck of a lot of re-development taking place to resolve the usually grid locked streets in time for the Summer Olympics which return in 2004. Athens has always been a city of change and although much of the modern city is a result of post-war dollars from the United States, a lot of its history is coloured by the occupation of the Romans and Turks. While the Parthenon can’t fail to impress, standing atop of the Acropolis for the last two thousand six hundred odd years, a lot of the cultural treasures were looted by other nations in the eighteenth century. My history is not good, but I guess they do hold a lot of grudge against the Iranians…after all we weren’t’ exactly friends 2000 years ago were we!?
We all learned the story from fifth-grade world history and ninth-grade civics. In the beginning, all was darkness, except for some little pockets of organized life in China, India, and the eastern Mediterranean. Then light broke upon the Aegean Sea, and the Greeks discovered democracy and the worth of the individual. The light was almost extinguished by Christian superstition but began to shine all the brighter in the Renaissance and Reformation, bursting into flame during the Enlightenment, which culminated in the American and French Revolutions, and, since then, Americans (and their European followers) have marched unswervingly in their progress toward Huntington's "liberty, equality, individualism, democracy, rule of law, private enterprise" -- to say nothing of free abortions, Jacuzzis in every Holiday Inn, international human rights, gourmet food you can heat up in the microwave, fresh Mexican fruit from a market run by illegal Korean aliens, freedom from religions that claim to possess the truth ... !!
I quite enjoyed the little Café culture in the cobble streets near the Acropolis and around town.
Apart from the streets night life everything here reminds me of home, the music, the people, the city’s structure and definitely the yellow cabs with the old Taxi drivers which have put up plastic flowers and tacky decorations in their cars…flash backs of Orange Peykans!!
As we walked up the hill yesterday to see the Acropolis, had Frappe’s ( Greek version of Iced coffee!), Souvlaki and enjoyed the 28 degree sun ( since we have already had out one day of summer in London…!)…I couldn’t help thinking; As curious as they were about other cultures, the Greeks divided the world between Greeks and "the others," whom they referred to as bárbaroi, a word that may be an onomatopoetic rendering of foreign babble. Although the term "barbarian" certainly included such wild peoples of the North as Illyrians and Scyths, it was more typically applied to the degenerate subjects of the great empires of the East, especially the Persians.
Herodotus, who was the first extant writer to have taken up the conflict between the two civilizations of the Mediterranean, spent a fair amount of time hopping from island to island, roaming through Egypt, and living among the barbarians. The results of his casual investigations (or "histories," as he called them) form the most entertaining (and perhaps even the most honest) work of history ever written. As a Greek, Herodotus had no doubts about the superiority of his own civilization, but he had grown up cheek-by-jowl with Carian bárbaroi, and he was fully aware of the splendid virtues of the Persians and of the cultural antiquity of the Egyptians. His openness to alien cultures extended to the point of gullibility, since he appears to have uncritically accepted nearly every preposterous story told to him by Egyptian priests.
Well despite what we read of history and the fact that Greeks ‘be khoone ma teshnan’….they seemed very nice warm and hospitable people…even to me!
4:00 pm
I was woken up…again…must be the 10th time today…by R...screaming come on the deck and see the view…so I get up tumbling and walk up on the deck…!
I have to give it to her…it was an amazing view of the little Islands…little houses and no sign of pollution!
4:30 pm
I can hear the siren…and there we are… Hydra…a little Island a short distance away from Athens, wow….how pretty is this!
We are too excited to find a place for staying the night…so we hit the beach and catch the last couple of hours the sun lounging around the stone hedged beach…drinking…talking…and a dip!
7:45 pm
We sat there quietly watching the sunset…no one said a word…I guess everyone was deep in their own little worlds…R must have missed hubby and is probably thinking how romantic would have been if he was here….Dee must be thinking ...can’t wait to get some sleep…Alexandra is probably dreaming of how to get rid of us…and I am just totally lost in the moment and can’t think of much but tomorrow!
Now, let me ask you a difficult question. Is it true that we need help to see the future? Or can we see it perfectly well? Could it be that we are concerned about our vision? Are we hoping for a second opinion or an alternative point of view? Are we, perhaps, a little overwhelmed by what appears to be looming so large on our horizon?
I guess no matter what way we think about it and how much evidence we get that we can perfectly see the future or the events of tomorrow... but we are just having some difficulty in believing the evidence of our eyes. Shall we say if what we see is inspiring, trust it? And if it is not, change it? What if we ignore it?
8:15 pm
“Izzy Wizzy let’s get busy!” That’s what Sooty used to say, before tapping his magic wand firmly on the counter. Or rather, that’s what Mr Corbett used to say that Sooty had said. Sooty, of course, was a glove puppet – famous for never speaking a word. People had to interpret his gestures. Which brings me on to this weekend’s kind of magic… For as long as we believe that power rests in someone else’s hands, namely our beloved R ( although unlike Sooty…She can’t stop talking!)…we will be ok…so she takes the lead…we walk around…brows the little shops…admire the little white and blue houses and retire to eat…at a little place by the sea…where we can see the stars…the lights of the boats in the bay and the soothing Greek music coming from the bar below…!!
And yum yum…Sea food Linguini with Greek Salad, Calamari’s and fisheggs!…I don’t think I have ever eaten so much at once!!!
Monday
00:30 am
Alexandra and I have excused ourselves and retired to our little room which we managed to rent with the help of the guys from the restaurant, and have left Dee and R on the Pier…!! I am too tired and I fall sleep as I hit the pillow!!!
The bed is actually a bit hard…but I am too exhausted to even care….
00:45 am
ringggggggg ringggggg…..what now….I can hear a mobile ring…I reach out for mine and press the red button…back to my deep sleep again…
ringggggg…….blurtttttttttttttt….this time I actually manage to open my eyes…the green light is on and it says ‘Dee’ on the screen…I guess some where in my brain I try to compute why is she calling me at this time…but obviously… I press the red button again…as you do!
Riiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggg….damn…YES…I blurt out…she is being very conscious of my bad mood and quietly says…”ummmm we are kind of lost!!!” That wakes me up….but can’t think so I just hand the phone to Alexandra who is now up as well with all the commotion..!
01:00 am
A big bang followed with giggles and damn…knocks on our door…Dee wants her bag which is in our room….this better be the last of them!! I am knackered…and very ‘Saggy and bad akhlagh’…..
01:05 am
Silence….. finally I can sleep……
01:07 am
Wishful thinking that was…knocking on the door again….
Now R wants her sun glasses…..WHAT???? Can’t it wait till tomorrow?...
Obviously not…..
6:30 am
ddddderedeee………..Alexandra’s alarm….
Wake up we are going to miss the ferry …..Oh my GOD……
07:00 am
We have managed to drag very moody R out of bed….decently dressed and outside….going down the stairs in the little Alley…everyone is kind of moaning and groaning….
07:10 am
the donkeys queued up to start the day….one of them is looking at me funny….’Dareh chap chap negah migone…’
What seems to be a zillion of cats have lined up by the fisher man’s boats and where they all jump in for little fishes thrown for them is rather amusing….
07:15 am
Siren…..the boat is here….
Got some sleep on the boat …thank god for that…
11:00 am
Back at Alexandra’s flat…R is feeling rather poorly…can’t figure out if it is sea sickness…lack of sleep or simply too much talking!
While we give her some tablets and put her in bed…Dee and I are getting ready to go SHOPPING…..hooray….
Human beings were born to shop. This is what they were placed upon the earth in order to do. The creator said, “Let there be people – and let them have credit cards. And let there be online catalogues for those who cannot get to the malls.” You doubt this? Then why, pray tell, are there so many retail outlets in every town centre? This is no haphazard accident of commerce – this is the divine will. Isn’t it? Then think. What else is there in life now that we can see as indispensable yet which actually matters far less …imagine?
So we hit the shops ……
10:30 pm
A day of shopping, more Frappe’s and Souvlaki and plenty of R’s sick ( sorry…..)…and we have only got couple of hours before our flight…
I sit outside in the balcony, smelling the Orange Tree blossoms ( bahar narenj)…and wish we didn’t have to leave this early…and try to inhale as much as I can to take a piece back with me for mum and Dad…especially Dad…I bet he has missed it so much!
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Leili Emshab porsid : chandta shivan mondeh ta labkhand zadan? ... chandta bose mondeh ta ashegh shodan?..
Man goftam : Khabarist resideh....to mageh khabar nadari...!!
Leili Emshab goft: Khabe abi khabe aftabi mikham...darya va mojaie shekan shekan...
Man goftam : booye darya booye sahel...darim miresim...kami digar ta'amol!
Man goftam : Khabarist resideh....to mageh khabar nadari...!!
Leili Emshab goft: Khabe abi khabe aftabi mikham...darya va mojaie shekan shekan...
Man goftam : booye darya booye sahel...darim miresim...kami digar ta'amol!
Spent the Bank holiday weekend in Athens with some friends from University, 3 of us went up there and stayed with a greek friend of ours...it was great!
I have written my diary of events...I just haven't had a chance to put it up here...
I will at some point...I promise...
It is just that I have exams next week which is the right pain and tomorrow is the deadline for my project proposal, which I still haven't got as far as picking yet....and work is hectic...so bare with me!!!
I have written my diary of events...I just haven't had a chance to put it up here...
I will at some point...I promise...
It is just that I have exams next week which is the right pain and tomorrow is the deadline for my project proposal, which I still haven't got as far as picking yet....and work is hectic...so bare with me!!!
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
"All you need is love..." So sang The Beatles. But they of course, lived in a far less sophisticated world. Things have moved on since then. Now, we have internet sites, reality TV shows and mobile phones. Had they been writing today, Messrs Lennon and McCartney could well have taken a different line. "All you need is a Sim card"they might have sung instead. Or would they? Some things, actually, never change, Nor do some people. Today's drama seems, in essence, truly timeless. So too, is the solution to apply to my problem. Love IS all it needs some might say...but is it really!?
It is true what they say;"Things will carry on getting silly until someone does something sensible". The problem, here, is that only crazy people ever imagine themselves to be sane. One has to be pretty ignorant before deciding to proclaim oneself wise. You have to be thick-skinned before you decide to describe yourself as sensitive. And you have to be big-headed to call yourself humble! So... let's look again at that sensible step one needs to take.
It is ridiculous, is it not, to suggest that I might be the best person to make it?
Well then.....
oh no...I wish there was someone you could hire to make decisions for you...like interior designers...or landscape architects...there should be personal decision making officers...!!!
It is true what they say;"Things will carry on getting silly until someone does something sensible". The problem, here, is that only crazy people ever imagine themselves to be sane. One has to be pretty ignorant before deciding to proclaim oneself wise. You have to be thick-skinned before you decide to describe yourself as sensitive. And you have to be big-headed to call yourself humble! So... let's look again at that sensible step one needs to take.
It is ridiculous, is it not, to suggest that I might be the best person to make it?
Well then.....
oh no...I wish there was someone you could hire to make decisions for you...like interior designers...or landscape architects...there should be personal decision making officers...!!!
None of us appreciates being awakened. We resent alarm bells when they ring. Even if we happen to know that we are waking up to something really good, we like the idea of getting in a little more shut-eye first. Usually, I need a cup of tea before I can decide quite how I really feel. And normally have a cup in my hand while hugging a pillow as I am being taken through a shift of consciousness. And this morning as I am being shown, taught or reminded of something, I feel a bit put out. I liked things the way they were. I was used to it. ummmm May be I should just put the kettle on!!!
People love to judge one another. Given the slightest opportunity they reach for conclusions and comparisons. It is doubtful whether the cosmos itself has quite so many strong opinions. The universe, after all, is a very big place with room for an awful lot of diversity. Now think of this notion of “deserving”. How relevant is that, really? Is there actually an angel with a scorecard in some distant etheric realm watching us all carefully day and night? Shall I ask, "What am I entitled to."or do I need to Ask, "What am I being given?" ....The answer, as I discovered this weekend, is an 'awful lot'.
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