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How I Learned to Fear Girls at a Young Age
08-Dec-2009
چگونه در بچّگى ياد گرفتم كه از دخترا بترسم
Back at the 8th grade, there were 2 all-girls high school near my school. Anoushiravan e Daadgar was the smaller one and the girls wore bright yellow shirts and light grey uniforms. They all seemed quiet and studious to us, and we never paid much attention to them. Down the street however, was the relatively large Reza Shah e Kabir high school which was one of the better all-girls schools in Tehran. Those girls wore light green shirts and the grey uniforms.
Every day around lunch time or in the afternoons as we were walking home from school or taking the bus, we would see the Reza Shah e Kabir girls everywhere. My 3 classmates and I always talked about which ones we liked better. But since the girls that we adored were a lot older than we were, we never got any attention from them! My younger uncle who was in his mid-twenties once told me jokingly, “Be careful with those Reza Shah e Kabir girls. Some of them are very naughty!” That phrase somehow stuck in my mind.
دختراي رضا شاه ِ كبير بعضيشون خيلى ورپريده هستند
I am not sure which one of us came up with the idea. But one day after school, we decided to go to Reza Shah e Kabir and see all the girls as they were coming out of the front gate of their school. We figured that as hundreds of girls were pouring into the street, we would walk back and forth in front of the gate and immerse ourselves in the “sea of girls!” The plan was for each of us to go our separate way and pretend that we didn’t know each other and then re-group at the end and share our stories as we walked home.
As we approached their school, we heard the bell ringing and the girls started to come out. I noticed that a couple of the older girls quickly put some lipstick on and pulled their skirts up a few inches to make them look like mini skirts! The regular uniform had to be long enough to touch their knees, otherwise the girls would have been sent home for improper attire. As the girls were rushing out, we moved into our positions. I held my books tightly in one hand and waited for the right moment to jump into the “sea of girls”. I saw my classmate Shahrokh a few meters away. We were like surfers waiting to catch the right wave! Then I went in.
I slowly moved forward as the girls were pushing me out of their way. I tried not to make any eye contact and just absorb the surroundings. It felt like standing in the ocean on a hot summer day with your eyes closed and anticipating the waves as they hit you. All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my elbow. One of the girls had just pinched me!
يك وشگون ِ محكم از من گرفت
Some Iranian girls are very good at pinching. They use the nails in their thumb and index fingers to grab your skin and flesh and then they twist until you confess or give up. They usually go for your elbow, thighs or any place that they can grab.
I eventually forced my way out of the crowd and saw Shahrokh at the other end. He looked kind of quiet. “Where are the other guys?” I asked. “They chickened out. I can see them on the other side.” He said. “One of the girls pinched me real hard. I hope that my elbow doesn’t turn blue. My mom would kill me if she sees that. How was it for you?” I asked Shahrokh. “I can’t believe it. One of them grabbed my butt and stuck a finger!”
نا كس يك انگشت به ما رسوند
Shahrokh and I decided that we were not going to take the risk and go back into the crowd again. Instead, we crossed the street and walked up the opposite sidewalk and then hooked up with our other friends. We were all kind of quiet on the way home.
As the school year went on, there were apparently more instances of guys from our school hanging out in front of the girls’ high school. At some point, the principals of both schools got together and came up with a plan. We were told that we can no longer use the side walk in front of their school and we should use the one on the opposite side. Also, in the following year, they cut our lunch break in half so that they could release us one hour earlier in the afternoons.
We never saw the girls in the green and grey uniforms after school again!
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مادموازل گلى
FaramarzThu Dec 17, 2009 07:34 AM PST
Thanks for your kind words!
I bet that you guys in Ahvaz were as playful and naughty as the girls of Reza Shah e Kabir high school!
How I learned to fear Girl at a young
by Goli Bamdad on Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:06 PM PSTسلام میسو فرامرز
من از طرز نو شتن شما خیلی خوشم امده ،طنز جالبی است ، از تمام خاطرات جوانی همه پسرهأی ایرانی ،منو به دوران جوانی‌ام برد ، خانوم‌های دبیرستان رضا شاه کبیر خو نسرد باشید، همه ما خوش بودیم با کارهای این پسرهای جوان. دستان درد نکند ،موفق باشید
As you said there is a lot fun story uderneath of our youth life in iran,
and i am live with all my memorey from iranian guy in my city Ahwaz and my high school ANAHETA .
Good Luck
Goli Bamdad
Oh what joy
by Jahanshah Javid on Fri Dec 11, 2009 05:58 AM PST"It felt like standing in the ocean on a hot summer day with your eyes closed and anticipating the waves as they hit you."
Nice piece Faramarz :)
Mehrdad A
by Monda on Wed Dec 09, 2009 09:36 PM PSTEven if my daughter's mother was on those streets she'd be hatefully chasing those basijis. Regretfully she's not.
Good to know you guys were not bothered by some of those girls' misbehaving. I hope you and Faramarz have a chance to read sima's blog on other events of our high school era. She's quite a writer.
History Repeats.....
by Mehrdad A on Wed Dec 09, 2009 05:27 PM PSTLooking back at those years, now I realize why almost 60% of today’s Iranian universities’ population is comprised by women. Their global stature in fighting fundamentalism has reached unprecedented highs in modern history.
As with Faramarz and other Alborzi friends we continued our daily incursion into the Reza Shahi girls’ territory, I always wondered about
the root cause of what I viewed then as aggressive behaviors. Not that we were bothered by it; at most we walked on the other side of the street. But in retrospect, I can recognize the fierce face of enormous pent-up demands for greater freedom and equality in a male dominated society.
What the hell! Once they chased me and Faramarz with cuss words; now let their daughters today beat the hell out of Basijis on the same streets.
sima joon I'm Not talking about Jibi
by Monda on Wed Dec 09, 2009 02:21 PM PSTThere was a dakkeh ketaab forooshi right across the street from Alborz. We'll talk proof sister, very soon!
I just glanced at your new blog -- can't wait to read it tonight!
I just posted a new blog on Reza Shah Kabir girls!
by sima on Wed Dec 09, 2009 09:56 AM PSTHey guys go read my blog if you like Iranian high school girls! It's called "Reza Shah Kabir girls go on a field trip."
That will show you how very varparideh we were... In addition to everything else our head smelled of ghormeh sazbi.
My "sea of girls" experience! LOL!
by Anonymouse on Wed Dec 09, 2009 09:21 AM PSTOur all girls school next to my school shall remain nameless but suffice to say that I'd take the "service" (school bus) home. Every once in a while on Thursday (Fridays schools are closed) afternoons me and 2 of my buddies would take the public bus home and the bus station was smack in front of the girls school.
Usually there wouldn't be too many girls in the bus and the bus was half full with general public people anyway, so we'd get about half dozen or so girls and that was enough to look, laugh and so on. We'd get off an earlier or later station, from our individul homes, so that we were off the bus with the girl that we liked. Once off the bus we'd take one last look and ba bye! that's it.
Sometimes there would be more girls in the bus, "sea of girls", and in those occasions we'd giggle and laugh a lot more. We'd tell each other to laugh and when asked each other 'what are you laughing about' we'd respond 'cause it's funny' and on and on. Basically laughing at nothing and thinking by laughing we can get anywhere! Sort of like honking your car's horn and trying to pick up girls! Just giggles!
Everything is sacred.
Yes, Alborzis were very cool
by sima on Wed Dec 09, 2009 08:22 AM PSTThey weren't the ones who harassed us on the streets. And anyway Faramarz and his pals I'm sure were not too traumatized by the varparideh girls!
Monda khanom, roo kon ta roo konam: the battle of photographs is on! I'll prove you're wrong. Also the "dakkeh" ketabforoushi that you mention on char-rah college was a bookstore and not book stand. It was Jibi 1 where I later worked. It was downstairs from Franklin.
But you're definitely right about going down the stairs on our rental bikes from Mash Ramezoon. We didn't need fancy mountain bikes for that sort of thing! Any old clunker would do.
You guys inspired me to post something here about Reza Shah girls. Stay tuned!
دختران ورپريده
FaramarzWed Dec 09, 2009 06:19 AM PST
No apologies needed. It was part of growing up.
I guess that my uncle was right after all! I'll call him in Iran and will let him know. He will get a laugh out of it.
And as far as me being a good boy? Ha..Ha..Ha
Faramarz on behalf of all those girls I'm sorry...
by Monda on Tue Dec 08, 2009 09:57 PM PSTabout your awful experience in front of our high school.
I must make a clarification about high school girls or women in general getting harassed by men. Even back then I knew it was not fair that good boys like yourself be subject to cuelties of the likes of Pari Zanjirkesh's. She should not have taken her frustrations out on You and your friends, who had innocently appropriate intentions.
I should also add here that not only I was never harassed or abused by any Alborzis but on few occasions over those years even received sweet poems, compliments and phone numbers stuffed in my backpack by them. You guys were really cool!
Thank you for this refreshing blog.
sima khanom wrong khodeti!
by Monda on Tue Dec 08, 2009 07:06 PM PSTI will dig out the one photo of you and me in our living room, one afternoon of 7th grade on my 13th Birthday -- wearing those very uniforms which were grey sarafon and any color shirt underneath UNTIL 8th grade when we had to wear the green shirts with the same grey sarafon (isn't it jumper in English?) And the fabric did shrink a lot, that's why they looked so short, Faramarz jan :o)
Anyhow, my point was that the girls who molested Farmarz and his buddies, 1) were not that much older than them (hence the uniform piece came about) and 2) those girls were Not the Norm - only stood out because of their outrageous behavior.
Hey sima remember you inspired me to ride my bike down all those stairs? Oh Man what Fun that was!
My sister reported me to our mom one day, then I needed to hear about how one may lose "one"'s virginity riding bikes like that! :O)))
Pari Zajirkkesh!
by sima on Tue Dec 08, 2009 03:49 PM PSTPari Zajirkesh was from a 1000 Famil family so she was no laato loot -- but she was unruly. The laqab-e zanjirkesh came from a day after a volleyball game with Azar highschool when she tore off the chain around her neck (remember those chunky hippie folk-arty necklaces cool girls wore in the 60s?!) and attacked Azar fans. I remember distincly how my friends and I zadim be chaak when that started!
The girls in khanehdari and monshigari was much more unruly and gherti than the rest of us and they were tanbal so couldn't make it to tabi'i and riyazi or adabi like us zerang ones did!
Pari Zanjirkesh
by Faramarz on Tue Dec 08, 2009 03:40 PM PSTWho was Pari Zanjirkesh? I am very curious. Was she like a biker chick?
And why were the girls in Khanehdari and Monshigari so nasty? One would think that the most homey and humble girls end up in those classes!
Reza Shah girls rule!
by sima on Tue Dec 08, 2009 01:59 PM PSTHa ha ha ha... I remember all this! Mr. Faramarz you know how much molestation girls suffered on the streets, buses, cinemas, etc.? Right by our highschool it was our only chance for revenge. I also belonged to the post Pari Zanjirkesh crowd (Monda and I rode bicycles on the yard together!) but I got a kick out of watching that rowdy bunch.
Monda khanom you've got the uniform thing wrong! Seventh grade we had the gray skirt, white shirt, and blue blazer uniform. I think it was in eighth grade that the gray ormak sarafon and green ormak shirt came in. It was Dr. Farrokhroo Parsa's idea. It was a big scandal because all the moms complained that ormak was bi-davaam and shrank. To prove that ormak was great Khanom Parsa sent her own daughters to ordoo-ye Ramsar that year in their uniforms! Do you remember Monda? We were at the ordoo that year!
Also, they became lax in enforcing strict uniform after ninth grade but we still had them. Whaddaya think, we were turned into Iran Zamin or something???!!!
I Am Guilty as Charged
by Faramarz on Tue Dec 08, 2009 01:48 PM PSTMonda,
It all makes sense now. You are one of those Reza Shahi girls!
Maryam,
If you scratch the surface in Iran, there is a lot underneath. This stuff actually did happen. I guess that I am lucky to see the humor in it!
Faramarz!
by Monda on Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:39 AM PSTFew quick pointers to you from a Reza Shah Kabiri (full 6 years) - you may want to reconsider your facts:
1) The light green shirt under grey uniforms were enforced only during 7th, 8th and 9th grades ( they were mini already, we weren't pulling 'em up or nothin). So 10h grade on uniform was not compulsory anymore.
Which means:
2) The girls You were interested in (or got pinched by) were Not the upper class-women. They just looked older than their age because of all the makeup they used - mainly in monshigari va khanedari majors/foci.
3) Some of us in tabiee or Riazee or Adabee, would rather eat a sandevich e kotlet or kalbas and a bottle of coke then rent a bicycle for the rest of the zang e naahaar. Or we might've been hanging out at Madam's which was closest to our school, so we could eat and rush back for that bicycle ride or shooting hoops (yes some of us did not carry polished nails either, we preferred keeping them nails short, for volleyball. basketball or ping pong matches)
4) I'm thinking the girls who molested you belonged to the notorious Pari Zanjirkesh gang. Those girls were monshigaris (not tabiees or riaazis) and were in my sister's classmates. My sister 5 years older than me, was in monshigari so I knew all of those girls. They used to traumatize many Alborzis, not just You or your friends. After those girls graduated, I don't recall any more stories of reza shahis physically offending alborziz any more.
5) I have a few alborz related memories which I should blog about, which may shed some light on your memories.
6) I was in 9th or 10th when the segregated sidewalks came about. I was not affected by it since I could see enough of My alborzi crushes at the book stand across the street from your high school :o)
For now - it's been Fun!
Go Girls, girls were good to you!
by Maryam Hojjat on Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:58 AM PSTyour experiences are very funny, somehow unbelievable!
Payandeh Iran & Iranians