by Majd, Hooman
Another friend, a man who left Iran after the revolution, raised two sons in the United States, but returns often to Tehran alone, sometimes for months at a time, joined us. Jalal, the son of an exdiplomat like myself but, unlike me, from an aristocratic family, had lived his childhood abroad and had been educated in England—he still has a perfect British accent—and at Georgetown Law, but he had returned to Iran years earlier and set up a law practice, married, and had two sons who went to Iranian public schools, learning their perfect English at home. We spoke about the political situation, about war, about sanctions that affected everything, including Jalal’s practice, and about the United States and its presidential election coming up in 2012.
As we switched between Farsi and English, almost without realizing that we did, I wondered why Jalal, despite all the difficulties, despite his obvious secular outlook, and despite the fact that he could live anywhere he wanted, chose to remain in Iran, when so many people less fortunate than he yearned to emigrate. I asked him.
“Well,” he said, pausing for a moment and then leaning slightly forward, “it’s our country after all, isn’t it?” Indeed, it is, a heartbreaking one, and one that I was about to abandon again, at that.
* TAMAM SHOD *
POSTSCRIPT
On October 25, 2012, my father, Nasser Majd, né Nasser Majd-Ardekani, passed away in London. In the last two weeks of his life, in hospital, he wasn’t interested in much, other than tying up loose ends before his permanent departure from the world. He did, however, still show a keen interest in news of Iran, asking my opinion on a number of issues, including the ongoing internal political battles and what the intensified sanctions were doing to his country and to his people. It was a little ironic, but fitting and gratifying, I thought, that the man who had been my bridge to another world, the half that was a part of me but that I didn’t know growing up, was now looking to me to be his bridge to that world that was always his.
Before his cremation, I received a handwritten letter of condolence from former president Khatami, who represents a regime my father sulked at, from exile, for thirty-three years, and who arranged a memorial service in Tehran that was attended by former ambassadors, reform politicians, and family and friends. I also received a condolence phone call from former ambassador and foreign minister of the shah Ardeshir Zahedi; the person who was the cause of my father’s first sulk told me he had never known a more honorable or patriotic Iranian, that Nasser Majd was like a brother to him, and that I should think of him as my uncle. Perhaps his big sulks worked, after all, but my father probably knew that before he took his last breath.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to my entire family, naturally, but with thanks also to the following people: my agent Andrew Wylie and his associates at the Wylie Agency, Rebecca Nagel in New York and Luke Ingram in London; my editor Kristine Puopolo and her colleagues at Doubleday/Random House, Sonny Mehta, Bill Thomas, Daniel Meyer, Janet Biehl, and Michael Windsor; and my UK editor, Helen Conford, and her colleagues at Penguin. And to the Iranians and Americans without whom this book would not be possible (in no particular order): Ali Khatami, Seyed Mohammad Khatami, Amir Khosro Etemadi, Iman Mirabzadeh Ardakani, Sadegh Kharrazi, Mohammad Sadoughi, Mehrdad Khajenouri, Karan Vafadari, M.M., Afarin Neyssari, Ali Ziaie, Ali Attaran, Ken Browar, K.J., Majid Ravanchi, Davitt Sigerson, Ali Akrami, E.A.H., Glenn O’Brien, Kaveh Bazargan, Jalal Tavallali, and Michael Zilkha.
A Note About the Author
Hooman Majd, born in Iran and educated in Britain and the United States, is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Ayatollah Begs to Differ and of The Ayatollahs’ Democracy. He lives in Brooklyn.
Other titles by Hooman Majd available in eBook format
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ • 978-0-385-52842-9
Visit: www.hoomanmajd.com
Follow: @hmajd
For more information, please visit www.doubleday.com
ALSO BY HOOMAN MAJD
The Ayatollahs’ Democracy
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ