From: amoojoon@ghahveh.khooneh.mash.yadollAh (Bacheh Morshed)
Subject: chAleh meydoon
Summary: har gerdi gerdoo nemisheh
Keywords: gerdAli
Organization: naghAl khooneh
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 05:49:14 GMT


SalAm bar ahAliyeh chAleh meydoon,

Long time ago whenever amoo became naughty and said a bad word his khAnom 
vAledeh would say to him: " dobAreh mesleh chAleh meydooniyA harf zadi?". 
The infamous chAleh meydoon was a place where the local gang had things going
their way by "bAj giri", "tahdid", "fahAshi", and "sherArat". The fact of 
the matter, as amoo later realized, was that the majority of ahAliyeh chAleh 
meydoon were nice common people but a handful of local gang were responsible 
for the bad reputation of the "mahal". Back then among the gang there was 
some kind of rule to respect the elderly, women, and places like " masjed", 
"noonvAyee, "ghahveh khooneh", etc. I'm not quite sure why those were 
exempted but I believe it had something to do with "manesheh jAheli", and 
some "mo'taghedAteh mazhabi". If you have been to south of Tehran you know 
what amoo is talking about. So chAleh meydooni was a bad attribution to 
someone because in most cases it implied many undesired qualities in one's 
attitude. The last couple of weeks of SCI has made chAleh meydoon so 
"roosefeed" that I had to change the title of my posting today. In amoo's 
"farhang" chAleh meydoon is considered haven when compared to SCI. Noone  
remained immune of the foul mouthed individuals who have brought nothing but 
embarassment to SCI lately. There are some psychological explanations that 
one could find for the behavior of those few but amoo is not qualified to 
make a diagnosis of that kind about anybody; it has been a multifactorial 
act and not one line of ideology is totally reponsible for what we have 
witnessed but again it is up to our ahAli to decide who has done worse. 
Sorry but amoo had to get it off his chest so it won't turn into an 
"oghdeh". 

O.K. after amoo's preach-du-jour it's time for a short ma'rekeh:

Today's talk is about circles and spheres. In FArsi we are fortunate enough 
to have a word that would describe both "circle" and "sphere"; its called 
"gerd"! (or as amoo's grand mother would say it "gerdAli") Amoo has always 
found it a fascinating concept because it is shared by almost all cultures. 
Allow me to explain why. From the planet we live on to my very own nightly 
"ma'rekeh"s there is always a circle involved. Just take your eyes off the 
screen for a second and look around to see how many "gerd" things are out 
there. Amoo has always wondered why this geometrical concept should be so 
desirable in nature. Many of our favorite things in life are also "gerd"; 
most fruits are either in that shape or a slight modification of it (such 
as "beyzi", "ostovAneh", etc.).
Our own FArsi expressions utilize the concept in various ways. We do 
"gerdeh ham Ayee"s, we say let's "doreh ham jam shaveem", or let's have a 
"doreh". All those terms imply the same concept, "dAyereh". 
Our poets have also referred to this concept extensively; phrases like 
"dAyereh hasti", "gerdekAn", and "gardoon" should sound familiar to any 
"adab doost" Iranian. Amoo remembers seeing some "raghseh mashA" by Sufis 
which is mostly choreographed based on making circles.
Then we get to religions which seem to follow the same pattern. Most islamic 
buildings have enjoyed circular/dome-shaped structures in their architecture,
and as far as amoo knows same is true for Bahai worship houses all over the 
world. 
Now before amoo gets all excited about bigger and more magnificent 
displays of gerd lets take a different approach; let's go smaller this 
time. Seems to me that the smallest particles are also "gerd". Whatever I
 have read in the past about the structural units of molecules, cells, and 
atoms also seem to have something to do with this concept. What is about 
being "gerd" that is so unique? 

The late Dr. Shokri who taught amoo "adabiyAteh FArsi" was also a member of 
"farhangestAneh zabAneh IrAn". Once he told amoo (who at that time was 
religiously trying to speak pure FArsi) that not all phrases would make 
sense if we tried to convert it to FArsi; he then gave me an example 
involving the word "gerdAli" which to this date brings smile to my face. He 
said: "bebin pedar jAn agar shomA beri edAreh dArAyee ghesmati hast beh 
nAmeh dAyereh mAliyAteh mostagheem". He then explained that the government
(that of ShAh) had asked them to transliterate whatever Arabic terms they 
found into FArsi. According to the late Dr. a group of "tAzeh kAr" liguists 
came up with the following FArsi substitute: "gerdAliyeh bAjeh sikhaki", 
which is technically correct but at the same time it's absolutely hilarious.

Well,  our ahAli's "gerd" eyes are getting tired, and amoo's "gerd" male 
pattern baldness (located at paseh kalleh, zeereh kolAheh gerdeh amoo) is 
expanding due to lack of sleep. To those who still have some "eshtehA"
left for them tonight's menu at our ghahveh khooneh is "koofteh ghelgheli" 
which will be served in a "gerd" "dori" with "nooneh tAftoon". 

gerd-o gholombeh bAshid,

amoo

P.S. MCA jAn, we truly enjoyed the introduction of your program, 
     "gerdsooz"! Zenedh bAshid amoo jAn.