Nazy Kaviani

Dear Robin:

I have read your story as I have read most of the things you have written. Sweet, thoughtful and thought provoking as usual. Mirza Benvis, as Ebi explained correctly, was a "writer for hire." The word, as the profession itself, are somewhat defunct now. I suppose when illiteracy rate was high in Iran, a lot of people sought such services where they would tell a literate person what to write for them. The services are still available in Iran, but not so much for ordinary correspondence, as there is hardly any illiteracy, at least in the cities. Near court houses, there are people who provide services to write a legal petition or fill out legal forms. Some of them have a typewriter, too! They are no longer called Mirza Benvis. If I recall correctly, their signs now say "Khadamaat e type va tahiyeh-ye form," (typing and forms preparation services).

Dear MPD:

I have a feeling that girl and her mother are no longer waiting for you to return from US. You are lucky you didn't marry her in roo-dar-vaisi! Very funny indeed!

Dear Solo:

Thanks for reading. I'll look for Sam Kinison and think of you.

.

.

Nazy Jaan

I'll try...

Ebi aka Haaji

Naughty naughty girl!

Your story reminded me of something that happened to me, back then when I was in my early twenties in Tehran.  The guys that I was hanging around with all had girlfriends, or they had someone that they talked to in dark corners of parks, in streets, or by phone.  Since I was extremely shy they conspired to fix me up with someone, with help from their girlfriends; and so they finally did.  The girlfriends told a girl, someone they knew from somewhere, that I had no idea who she was and I had never seen in my life, that I liked her, cared for her so much, had a crush on her, and I wanted to meet her and stuff like that.  So finally I met her one day.  The meeting was so awkward, she was in no way ready or willing to have a boyfriend, and she was not willing to risk being discovered by her parents that she was seeing a guy.  The conversation was awful, as bad as it is now with me, come to think about it.

A couple of days later I got a phone call from a woman that very maturely and politely introduced herself as the mother of the girl and wanted to know what my intentions were, so I had to keep up with the charade, that I like her and wanted to know her more.  So, she asked me about my occupation and my education.  Well, I didn’t have a job, but I had one thing going for me, I told her I was getting ready to go to America to get an education.  She said that was a good thing I was doing and wanted to know for how long I’d be gone, which I told her four years.  She said fine, you can ask for her when you come back, meanwhile we’re not in any hurry to marry her off.  

It’s been over three decades now that I’m in the USA.  I wonder if she is still waiting for me :O)

Here, Nazy, you can read a related story of mine PS

going up Monda's thread. It's not the one I would write if I were writing for this series, no it's not at all, but yours reminded me of it. So I thought I'd repost it here. I guess you are probably familiar with the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac'. Cyrano, who is ugly, writes love letters for his friend Christian for the his cousin whom he also loves, the lovely Roxane. With whom she falls hi love but he dies in battle. So she goes to a convent where for fifteen years Cyrano visits her each day, until one day he is wounded on his way there and dies. And at the moment of his death she realizes that it was he, Cyrano,not Christian, whom she had loved all these years. She realized that, the lovely 'Roxane.

There are many variations on this theme. There is Rostand's Cyrano, there's your story, there's mine...unfortunately the only hits for Mirza Benvis on google are both yours but I'll assume it's something along those lines...some have happy endings, some have sad, some happy for some and sad for others and well..that's just how it goes...

//iranian.com/main/blog/monda/contacted-my-childhood-prince

PS I'm not sure if I was clear. My story is written in two posts of mine and one reply from Monda ON THE THREAD.

Ebi Jan:

Thank you for your kind and funny comment! Of course I know what a Mirza Benvis is, but I never met one (other than myself!). The "pay" for my services came through beauty aid, and it was a mutually beneficial trade while it lasted. Ebi, won't you write a piece for the series?

Dear Asad:

Na baba! This love story had both some happy outcomes and some really sad ones. I don't think Mahtab's IQ had too much to do with either one. On principle, though, I think it was wrong of me to engage in this and I welcomed a chance to confess to Bahman himself and deal with my guilt in the early 1980's. He laughed good naturedly when he heard the story, to my relief.

Do you call that "a good cause"?

Nazy jaan: It is easy for you to say, but do you really find that "a good cause"? The poor SOB was sent to his wedding night, thinking that his wife-to-be had wits, words and intelligence. In about two years, after all the hormonal drivers are out and spent, the gullible chap would be left with a pretty but dull excuse of a woman to live with. Is that a good cause?

Kidding aside, I loved reading this piece and wish you all the fun with the writing project.

Nazy Jaan

Enjoyed every line of it,you do magic with words,they won't let you go.

Btw:

I bet you have heard about this:

Back then,around Ministry of Justice Bldg in Tehran,there were some Writers/Mirza benvis,who would write people letters for one Ryial ,except one,who charged 2 Riyals .Somebody asked him why do you charge double?

He answered:

1 ryial for writing & 1 ryial for reading it later(since his handwriting was illegible).

Did you charge her 1 ryail or 2 Ryials?!,be honest.

cheers

Sepaas

Ebi aka Haaji

A true story

I am trying to write a piece of fiction for this series. While I work on that, I thought to share something I wrote a while back, experimenting with truth and humor. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for reading.