Thursday, April 28, 2005

To the End:

"Ta Enteha" (To the End) is the name of a Live TV program in Iran News Channel aka irnn, which surprisingly happen to be a worthy show to watch. The basic objective of the program is to discus the main economical, social or whatever else concerns of the whole society. It somehow reminds me of "Hard Talk" but there are experts as well as normal people commenting on the live show. Yet the presenter never fails to give the person sitting on the hot seat a really hard time & that's what I like most about the show. No one's safe sitting on the hard seat of "to the End"!
Mr. Heydari, the presenter of the show, knows how to talk about the issues discussed on the show. It seems that he always studies about the subjects of discussions & have at least a good command over the unclear issues. He insists on clear & straight answers so it's rather (well, more than rather) difficult for the guest to get away with the issue.
What makes the show worth-watching is the fact that it, unlike most other shows on TV, doesn’t follow the political & therefore unfair & biased trend toward the issues. If there would be something wrong, then there is no way it would change it to RIGHT & if at any rare chance the issue discussed would be based on a wrong assumption, Mr. Heydari is courageous enough to declare & accept the truth.
It might not be the most perfect or rebellious program I've ever watched, but nonetheless it is a great step toward respecting viewers common sense & judgment. It tends to stay away from touchy issues like politics (especially now while we're getting ready for Iran's presidential election) & facts concerning the leader of Iran or other big names. Yet, in all honesty, I must admit that never once it let me down on the subjects. If an issue is discussed, then there would be no presumption or prejudgment about it. There is no way the show would reach to the end in a traditional trend where you can guess the results & don’t have to watch it.
Tonight for example it was about Iran buying the Rover Company in Britain which has declared bankruptcy earlier this year. It had been the main subject of the show for the past few days & the discussion is still open. Mr. Heydari's last question of the night was "Is this a political move? & what is the role of Iran's ambassador in London in it?" The guest (head-manager of Iranian company offering the bid) tried to avoid the first question by answering the latter & getting away with it but he asked again: "Is it or is it not?" & the guest didn’t have a choice but to say "Well, it had not been a political issue when it had been brought up, but in the present situation it can be used as one..." & the Mr. Heydari forbid the show saying: "This was to the End, wait for the political aspect of it to be discussed"
Alright, I wanted to write about this program a long time ago & I don’t know why I put it off this long. I'm not one of those couch potatoes who watch TV regularly. There are only a few programs I do watch like "All Saints" & the 7 pm news. TV programs rarely attract my attention; they're either lame, poor-planned dramas or biased news. Most TV series shown here shows violence more than what I can tolerate. Se* on the other hand is banned so I don’t have to worry about that (Although if I had to choose, I would tolerate se* more than violence). Now I have to write a post about TV & other Medias. But that have to wait for another time.
Ps: a little personal post: C, you really have to take less offence about everything. There are a lot of people who don’t understand Spanish & a lot more who don’t understand Farsi! It doesn’t mean that we can't communicate with them. There's always sign language for those who don’t know English ;) write a post about it.
Pss: Dear Grandpa, thanks for the very nice comment you left for my last post. I'm definitely honored. & I have written some very short texts in English (beside from the very stupid story you read) which I might post here. It's just that I'm rather unconfident due to the issue. But I'll try to post some of them.
Now that I'm actually leaving personal comments here, I must leave a message for my dear Lynne (the last but definitely not the least). Thank you so much for all your comments. You & grandpa Doral are the main reasons I keep writing stuff here. & if I don’t leave comments on your posts it's because my stupid ISP is playing a bit with T-blog. I can't open the site most of the time. It's due to internet ban here & sometimes I can open your blog but not the main site & so on.... I tried to get the windows send your posts to my email. (This works for some Iranian blogs) but it had been rather hard work with T-blog. I have no idea why there had been a ban on T-blog; some other blog providers & Net-space providers are on the ban too like geocities. Blogspot was banned too but we tried & released it. So please don’t think that I don’t read your blog! Every time I do get to open your blog I check the Archives for what I've missed. May everything be fine with you.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Have you ever been felt so out of place you didnt know what to do?
I did! Today I just learened that I dont fit in the area I'm working in. It is suffocating me! My boss is very moody & he seems not to be able to make a decision at ALL! He needs to hurry up & do something about the sanitary issue in the proccess room but he keeps ignoring my reports.
Today he told me: "we've been doing fine for the past year so why rush to change?" & this rush means 3 MONTHS of reporting & disscussing a major problem!
Lord Save me please!

Friday, April 15, 2005

Zardoshti

Who was Zardosht? We believe that he was one of the messengers from God. He was an Iranian prophet & he has a holy book Avesta & some other related writings like Yasnas.
There are three basic rules in the Zardoshti religion: Good Words; Good Thoughts & Good Behavior.
Zardoshtis believe that there is Ahoora Mazda (as God) & Ahriman (as devil). Fire is holy in this religion like the earth, the water & other natural elements. Zardoshtis are free to practice their religion in Iran.
I'm still trying to contact the friend I mentioned & to find more information about the actual religion. It is hard for me to define what is basically Zardoshtism & what is Iranian old belief as they are totally combined together. I mean to be honest Norooz or Tirgan or a lot more practices like yalda are ancient Iranian traditions that are practiced by all Iranians no matter what religion they have. So as an inexperienced little girl, I don’t have the right to judge about the whole issue.
What in actual fact makes it harder for me to differentiate between the tow is the point that my family practice some of these traditions that others don’t. Tirgan, Mehrgan or Froodin are rarely celebrated among other Muslim families while we do participate in them. Still that could be the pan-Iranism hard core in us!
Enough of me talking nonsense about one of the oldest religions in the world, Zardosht goes back to even before Moses. There are few BIG changes happening around me lately. First of all, my cousin is getting married to her boyfriend of 5 years. This leaves me the oldest single kid in the family. & it had been kind of a shock for me. It seems that everyone is growing up so fast here that I can't put up with them. Still it was not as shocking as my other cousin marriage & then becoming a father. I can remember clearly when he told me that his wife was pregnant, his eyes were glowing & he had a broad smile on his face. I just blinked at him & said "Have you gone mad? You shall not kid me like this! She can't be pregnant!" & then totally freaked out!
Secondly, Mr. President (my friend from the crew) is leaving Iran forever next week. We met up to say goodbye last night & it was very hard, harder than I imagined. When I wanted to leave, we hugged & I had to run away not to let him see my tears. He will be missed greatly. I hope wherever he is & with whomever he befriends, he would remember us cos we definitely going to remember him for the rest of our lives.
I guess I have to learn to say goodbye to my other friends too. Most of the crew is working on leaving Iran in future. That is sad but we all have to admit that it is inevitable to grow apart & to leave the bond we share behind. Someday we will be together again & till then....My job is still a pain in the neck. I really need more space & a clear work chart! No! I'm not gonna talk about it cos it only make me sadder than what I already am!

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Zardosht

Well, I definitely like to write more on this subject. Most of Iranian like the old religion of Zardosht & we still celebrate some of the holidays as national holiday.
A family friend of mine is Zardoshti & I will have her word to put here.
Just bear with me please. I STILL don't have the net access at work & it's killing me. I do my best to put a post before the end of the Weeks.
PS: Dear sydaus I read your blog & honestly I have learned not to get offended about the whole Islam issue. Although I genuinely believe that the religion most people consider Islam has nothing to do with the real points of the religion. Never once anyone tried to show the gentle points in Islam. Anyhow, over here I'm just an Iranian defending my Nationality of sorts, trying to reveal the real person behind the biased media image. So nope I didn't get offended.