Love
in the time of Internet: Connections with Iran
MY
love affair with Iran seems to have been born with me, as I can always remember
a time when I felt fond of Iran. Stories told when I was a child perhaps helped
it.
Seven
years ago, a new friend entered my life and truly deposited so much knowledge
about Iranian culture and I am truly grateful.
Lately
there have been a flurry of communications and I am grateful for the Internet
to facilitate this rapid communications with Iran
Just
one example:
I
was talking to a friend in southwestern part of Iran, when she mentioned the
name of a novel, which she had loved very much. She had read it in translation.
Sure enough within a week a copy arrived from Amazon.com.
A
fraction of the whole by Steve Toltz had been short listed for Man Booker
Prize. The author is Jewish and the setting is Australia, and there is a French
element to it. I couldn’t believe the coincidence! And the author now lives in
New York!
When
I began reading the book, which I plan to carry with me on this forthcoming trip
to Asia, I was fascinated with the various connections mentioned in the book,
ethos of an era in Australia that I was also a part of, and I found it
fascinating.
So
when another friend of mine from Teheran asked for a recommendation for a book to
read, I had no suggestion which book I should suggest and she sent me a cover
photo of the book in its Persian translation.
The
world is smaller; Internet has made it easier to communicate with Iran, the
most intelligent of all nations in the Middle East outside of Israel.
We,
the Jews and Israelis, would be your best friends, I tell my Iranian friends.
