Friday 22 July 2011

Migration to Tehran in search of a better life!

In 1959, I finished high school in Bam where I had lived with my aunt Iran, and her family and of course my beloved grandma for 6 years. I wanted to go to Tehran to continue studies. This was hard for my mother as she expected to have me back with her after so long but now I was 19 and determined to make something of myself. During the last year of school I developed a fever which nailed me to bed for weeks and the only doctor in town did not know the nature of it and there was doubt whether I will ever recover let alone graduate from school. There was a time when before the new year of 1959, my mother who had recently given birth to baby Massoud was contacted as my aunt and grandma feared I might die. Mum came in hast, with Massoud just 25 days old, wrapped up in a bundle. Whether it was her presence or other factors, my fever died down and I was able to move around and eat although I remember I looked like a skeleton.
However, after new year holidays there was consultations with school authorities and my teachers. As all small towns, the teachers and school authorities knew our family and were aware of my situation and during my illness some even came to visit. It was decided that I attend the remaining days of school and sit for the final exams and just take my chances. Fortunately, I was good at some major subjects such as literature, English language, sciences (although very bad at maths and physics). I managed to pass my final exams with a total grade of 17/50 out of 20!
I talked with my mum and persuaded her to let me go to Tehran and grandma Bibi Atieh who was slightly ill at the time agreed to accompany me. We were so attached that the thought of separating from her was hard to bear.

In June 1959, with little money and few belongings we set out for Tehran, the unknown Capital by bus . The journey took 3 days of travelling through the deserts or Kavirs of southern Persia where the bus would stop at some points and let the passengers stretch their legs and rest at the local on-the-road cafes and then move on. Sometimes the driver would continue overnight and we would spend the night between sleep and awakeness until early morning when another small town or village would appear on the horizon and we would be allowed to get out. On such roads and in those days, bus drivers were the ultimate power as they were the major carriers of passengers across the land and brought fortune to the villages and towns or the oasis where they stopped and let the passengers out. For that, the cafe or restaurant owners paid special attention to the driver and welcomed him like a king!

However, the only two major cities I remember I first saw were the ancient city of Yazd which located at the heart of the desert and Esfahan. In both cities we were allowed to stay overnight in the small nearby guesthouses. As we travelled further away, I knew that I had left the first part of my life, the towns of Jiroft, Bam and the province of Kerman behind forever. Although I returned to Bam only once when grandma was dying and to Jiroft on many occasions but I was always considered and outsider whithin. I was never accepted nor willing to be accepted as part of one or the other although later inlife and farway in England I yearn to have had a solid root somehwere. My roots are scattered across many lands like branches of a cherry tree which when planted grow under the ground and its duplicate solute the sun in another section of the graden.
However, at the beginning of summer 1959 we arrived at a bus station in southern Tehran and went straight to my mother's cousin's home where we were supposed to stay for the time being. Nahid khanum was Alieh Khanum's youngest daughter who was married out to an army officer at a very young age. At the age of 30, she had 5 children. The army officers were often stationed at various parts of the country but colonel Naderi's last assignment had ended and he was given a permanant job in Tehran. Their rented house on Shokufeh street in southern Tehran was surrounded by high walls and concealed from the road like other houses in the big cities. We were allocated half of a room on the first floor which was a store room. We hang a curtain in between to create our own space. It was big enough for me and grandma to have our bed and suitcases and few other necessities arranged around.

My first task in the city, so unknown to me and grandma was to make enquireries about Tehran University's entrance exams (or Conquoore as it was called). Every year, thousands came to Tehran to attend the university exams as apart from few other cities lacked higher education establishments. Upon consultation with other relatives and cousins and those who knew the system, I was registered at a private evening class to improve my sciences and learn about the university exam system. I was new to Theran and listened to all advice and tried to make out which was best to take. Even learning how to get on the bus and go to the evening class and return home safe took some time to learn! I had come from a small town with regid codes of ethic where every one knew every one and family connections proveded safety and security. Here, I was in this big metropolis where I had to not only ward for myself but learn quickly to adjust and assimilate.
I did not know which faculty to register for the exam and even what subject interested me. I had to learn fast as I only had few months before the exams. At the end, I did not get into the University but was accepted at Tehran Teachers Training College. The subject I was entered was a random: a newly approved subject of Scientific Geography within the science department!
The College was located far from our cousin's house and I had to take several buses which took hours. My poor grandma did nothing during the day but wait patiently for me to come home late in the evening where she would feed me and sit to chat about my developements. Going back 5 decades, I wonder how much love and affection she had for me to bear living in that condition for a whole year just to see me settled although. I later knew she was not feeling well as a creeping cancer was invading her body and eventually killed her 2 years later.

The college year began at the end of September and there I met friends from high school in Bam and other young men and women from the province of Kerman. Akhtar Bahri who was my best friend from Bam and whom we went to school together for the whole 6 years was accepted at the Persian literature department and we spent most of our time together. We also found new friends from other cities. In those days it was customary for families to send their children to Tehran for higher education; men and women alike. At our College we had more students from outside Tehran than the Tehranis and that sometimes created culture clash. Tehranis were more open and modern while those from other parts of Iran were reserved especially the men. Girls assimilated faster and learnt quicker to dress elegantly and in fashion and do away with their town's rigid customs but boys mostly remained loyal to their customs of their birthplaces.

However, in the middle of term I met some lecturers from the English language department and one of them, a John Green from England, who often spoke with me at various times told me one day that my English is surely better than his best students and suggested I change subject and join the English Literature course. I did not hesitate as I did not like the subject I had chosen and in mid-second term I was transferred to the English department where I managed to become one of the best students.

The photos of college years show better than words the life we lived.

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