Where is the border line?

Two weeks ago one Saturday me and Mr.B went to Amsterdam and this time not for a museum or a special event but only to get more familiar with the atmosphere of the city itself. This city has its own character as The Hague (Den Haag), Rotterdam and just recently visited city Maastricht have, each has its own personality and this tells you no matter how small the country is still things get different when you move from one city to another.
Anyway, at the end of the day we went to "red light district", I was too curious to skip seeing those streets which until then I always thought it was "red line strict" (Being an Iranian does explain that I guess :). It's needless to say this area and the banned-free access to Marijuana in certain cafes have made Holland "the" place to visit for certain tourists.
Apparently this doesn't sound as appealing to the Dutch people themselves. I heard once from one of my supervisors that this policy is coming from this mentality of Dutch which says: " You're free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else" and that they want to have control on the issues which have become underground problems for other countries BUT, that's not as clever as it sounds to many Dutch people and they're not really happy with that. They're having problems with under legal age prostitution and the number of teenagers with tendency to smoking cigarette and later on Marijuana has increased-as they say.
It's hard to say if it's really serious especially in the world of relativity with universal problems like addiction and so on, it's better be not too judgmental maybe.
But apart from the whole matter there was one scene I took when I left that red district. Two 11-12 (if not less) years old boys were walking in the area looking at the windows, giggling and whispering. I wonder when they got back to their homes what they said to their parents if they were asked where they had been to.
Isn't it similar to the right and responsibility that parents should have to control the TV channels when they have "kids" and if so who is taking this right from them. Does that famous Dutch mentality of "not my business unless you're bothering" have anything to say for such families?

Darbareye Elly

Darbareye Elly (About Elly)
Very vivid image of a part of Iran's contemporary society. A must see movie.

Back to Tripoli

Our trip to Barcelona was refreshing and fun. Although a very quick glance that we took at the city could have not given us much clue to fairly know the atmosphere of its society but I could still find something to keep my mind playing with. It's obvious people in the European countries live more comfortable than my Iranian fellows who live in Iran or people here in Tripoli or probably in anywhere else which is not considered as a developed country. Public services provide better conditions and I think general problems that people in non-developed countries feel do not exist in the developed parts.
Well, it may be more fair to say the kinds of difficulties that these two different worlds have are not similar nor in the same levels.
I have no idea how many percent of all these people whether they live under high standard of services or not are really happy in their deep deep inside. And I know that the definition of happiness for every one is different from another but what I don't get is why these two groups seem this much different in the first place. Is it the climate or genetic or the kinds of beliefs they hold on to? Or is it the matter of each society's history and if so... Why?

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Breaking the Taboo

This person started his talk show named "koole poshti" means backpack in Iran 3 years ago. This program was showing his interviews with people who were famous or expert in some areas. I was never attracted to his show. To me, he seemed kind of fake and was trying so hard to show the audience that he was so cool and unique. I just knew that teenagers included my niece have been his huge fans.

He started again the new series of his talk show this season and I can see in the news and many Persian blogs about his latest jangly interview with the Tehran chief of police force. This interview was broadcasted in one of the main national TV channels and you'd normally expect to see discussions in favor of government's policy so when I saw him questioning and criticizing the recent police force treatment of this kind of women's hijab in the streets -which is a forbidden topic to be discussed in this way- I was quite surprised!

I think this is a good sign and could be considered as a tiny flow of this society's transition river and a little breeze ahead to freedom of speech (finger crossed :). I don't mind if that was the system inside's collusion or some thing that just happened impulsively because of an adventurous taste of the producer of the show or the performer himself. This suggests that things could change. Even moderate changes are so welcome in a world that you should take care of your country from detrimental help of the outside.

If you can understand Farsi or keen to see the related parts in this show, click here and here.

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I never forget tomorrow

I vividly remember that day (July 9th, 1999) when hardline police forces rammed into Tehran university dorm compound early in the morning, beating and arresting students and destroying the dorms to a wreckage. That year was the first year of my study at university. That morning day when I was on my way to university, I faced an angry demonstration of students coming from the dormitory with a bloody shirt in one's hands while they were shouting. I had no idea what had happened and what was going on. I arrived at university and was surprised by the upset students of my college who were standing in the middle of the corridor, wearing black armlets. I clearly remember those moving days when tears of tenderness mixed with tear gas came out from our eyes in the university's area, where we were supposed to be safe in any condition. I remember the fear of having university closed. I remember all our expectations and hopes for the reformist president of that time. I remember...

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