From: hooshyar@scrp.Stanford.EDU (Hooshyar)
Subject: Gol koocheek (Part 1 of 4)
Organization: Stanford Cardiac Rehab Program
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 18:44:31 GMT

Background:  Aref's memories of the past brought me my memories.  Most of
those events happened to me too, and I thought I was going to share
one of those with sci. 

This is about 'gol koocheek' in the middle of the streets of Tehran.  The
story is pretty much true and reflects how teenagers used to be happy and
continue to stay happy.  I guess this was our 'fun.'

The original text was written in Persian during a high school 'klAs-e enshA,'
and was later translated into English in 1982 in California.  I apologize 
if the translation is not a professional one.

In order to make it brief, I have broken it into four (4) parts and
there sure is a commentary at the end of each part to motivate you to go on
to the next part, courtesy of amoojoon/Asghar AghA advertising requirements.

Happy momories of the past!

-------------------------------------------------
| (C) Copyright 1982, 1992, Hooshyar F. Naraghi |
-------------------------------------------------

                             Behind Amjadieh                (Part 1 of 4)
                             ===============

Tehran, Azar 20, 1350
Dr. Mahmoud Shimi High School


Recently football and in general competitive, dangerous sports have
been banned in our high school.  In the beginning of the school year
we could play football in the school yard until 8:30 AM when first
classes would start.  How exciting and delightful it was when we
played against the twelveth grade players who were mostly members of
our high school team.  If one day our team - whose players were namely
from seventh to eleventh grades - defeated the big guys, we would beat
about the bush and belittle them for the rest of the day.  We would also
take these declamations to our classes.

We would normally start the game at around 7:15 every morning.  Our
school compound shaped like a square with almost equal sides.  This
shape was not at all ideal for football, but for a public high school
whose building was donated by a wealthy merchant from Ghajar era we
could not ask for more.  The school yard was covered with asphalt, and
we were really content with what we had got.

We would use the galvanized basketball poles as our goal posts.  They
were located at the eastern and western sides of the school yard.
After spending three years in this school, I have not seen a single
soul to pass a ball through these basketball rings.  As a matter of
fact no student has ever touched a basketball ball in our school.  I
am not even sure if the school has any basketball balls!

Our major problem during the game was the western side of the yard
that was adjacent to the restrooms.  First, a short plaster wall
separated our school from a private house.  Most of the time our ball
would cross the wall and land in the yard of this house, and this
would mark a sorrowful ending to our game because the old and always
angry tenant in the house would cut our plastic ball into two halves
and throw it back at us as a sign of his victory over us!  Now, if we
had any pocket money, we would buy another ball from the local grocery
store next to our school.

The other problem was the restrooms.  Every time the ball would enter
one of the restrooms, we would argue for a long time to decide whose
turn it was to pick up the ball from inside those dirty restrooms.
The unlucky player would also end up washing the ball in the drinking
water fountain which was built next to the restrooms.  The school
principal used to say that there was no budget to repair the
restrooms.  'And, if there was any money, the priority ought to be
given to the building itself that was going to collapse one of these
days,' he would argue.

The eastern side opened to Bahar street which comprised the enterance
door to the school yard.  Every time a player kicked the ball over the
eastern wall, he would have to risk his life by going out and picking
up the ball from the middle of the busy street!  That was our rule.

In the western side there was an old but very well maintained house
with a beautiful garden and colorful rose garden.  The owner of the
property had errected a tall and long metal fence above the western
wall so that it would prevent any ball to land in the garden.  During
the course of years the ivy plants that had nested in the grids
throughout the fence had painted a refreshing wall across the fence.

Finally, in the northern side the school building was situated and
there was no passage to outside.  With the exception of the western
side that would swallow our balls like an aligator with an open mouth,
the rest of the school walls were kind of safe.  This situation had in
fact created a desirable enclosure for our games.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   ********  TO BE CONTINUED  ********

In the next episode we will learn how the arrival of a 'zAlem' would
take away our fun and destroy the moral among us, the 'mazloom teenangers.'

Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian