From: aref@Tehran.Stanford.EDU (Modda'iyeh har hAzer va Vakileh har ghAyeb)
Subject: Rapping With Asghar AghA (PART TWO)
Organization: GhessehAyeh Khoob barAyeh BachehAyeh Khoob 
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 23:34:56 GMT

(C) Copyright, 1992.
 

I started paging through Asghar AghA's proposal. It was handwritten
and he had a lot of crossed sentences and words. I did manage to
read through and understand what he was proposing. But before we get into
the details, I have to give you some information about Asghar AghA
and the family; "khAnevAdeyeh marbooteh".

Asghar AghA watches a lot of American TV. He does this partially to 
improve his English and partially to learn more about this country.
His favorite shows are Sesame Street (he adores kids) and Hill Street 
Blues (he identifies with zendegiyeh kArmandi). His favorite characters
are the Cookie Monster (he considers him quite a jolly fellow with
a very sweet tooth) and McGyver (the guy who fixes everything with
his bubble gum; he thinks "agar too Iroon panj shish tA azinA 
dAshtim, hich vaght ehtiAji be in khArejiA nadAshtim"). He likes
Geraldo too. His favorite episode was "The Lesbians Who Hate To
Wear A Right Eye Contact Lens".

Aghar AghA has a KabAbi in Northern California, from which he feeds
his family and helps put his children (two sons, one daughter) through
college. He used to be "kArmandeh dow-lat" back home. He is not
too happy that he is selling "shish kabab" and "joojeh kabab" nowadays
instead of the "kAghaz bAzi" he used to do when he was a "kArmand".
But then again, having to make money somehow, he does it and manages
to make the best of the situation. He is happy, that at least his
children are getting a decent education and that the family has been
kept together. He is just worried about his kids growing up to be
"AmrikAii", but with Shamsy KhAnoom keeping a tight rein on them, 
that is probably a long shot. Since their arrival in California,
Asghar AghA and Shamsy KhAnoom have gone through quite a bit, but
they seem to have gotten closer, realizing that in this "mamlekat",
all they have is each other. 

Shamsy KhAnoom, on the other hand, misses her relatives back home.
She travels back and forth between California and Iran, at least
once every two years. As much as he'd like to complain, Asghar AghA
holds himself back, because it was Shamsy KhAnoom who managed to get
the "geereen cArt" for the family. You see, she started baby sitting
for this family's newborn, and by the time the kid was 1, he was
strongly attached to Shamsy KhAnoom. So an attorney who was a friend
of Shamsy KhAnoom's neighbor's bA-jenAgh, made a case of this and
convinced the immigration service that she had a big stake in the 
life of the kid, therefore they had to issue her a Permanent Resident
visa. Nowadays, Shamsy KhAnoom does various things to bring in money
and help with the household expenses. She used to spend all of her
time at the "kabAbi", making rice, mAsto-khiAr, torshi, sholeh-zard,
and various "khoresht"s, depending on what the "special" was on any
particular day. Nowadays, she does a little bit of catering (she caters
mostly to Iranian aroosi's and makes a beautiful "sofreyeh aghd")
a little baby-sitting for family friends and even some hair-styling
for the ladies of the upper classes.

When they opened their shop, they hired this Mexican guy to
help with the kitchen tasks. Has very quickly learned all of the
dishes they offer and has been promoted to a "sar-Ashpaz". Lopez
is now a full time employee of Asghar AghA and has made good friends
with him . Asghar AghA even assisted Lopez with transportation 
arrangements and expenses when he brought his family to the US after  
getting his Green Card, using the 1986 Immigration and Naturalization
act regarding resident illegal aliens. 

Asghar AghA has a soft spot in his heart for Lopez. He told me once
that Lopez reminds him of himself, when he was young, way back 
"zamAneh Mosaddegh", when he first came to Tehran to attend Tehran
University, from "GolpAygAn". How hard it was to start a new life
in a big city, alone, away from the family, and all that. Begzarim .... 

The last time Shamsy KhAnoom visited Iran, she managed to sell their 
home in Tehran's "khiAbooneh AbbAs AbAd". They had bought this house 
when they got married back in 1349 for about 130,000 toman. She sold it
for about 15 million toman, about 3 months ago. She is upset these days
that she sold it, because she had heard through a friend's dokhtar-amoo
that the buyer had in turn, sold the house for 17.2 million toman.

TO BE CONTINUED .....

NEXT EPISODE: Asghar AghA EXPRESSES HIMSELF!!! 

(Courtesy to Amoojoon)