می بخور، منبر بسوزان - مردم آزاری نکن

There is no telling what Calgary will do next. This morning, we woke up to 15 cm of fresh snow and a blast of cold winds. Naturally, to the frozen people of this mid April “spring”, the thought of a nice stroll seemed as unreal as the science of global warming.

But Calgary did it again, and sharp at 6 pm this very evening, the sun came out shining. We too came out for the light, as did many light hearted sun lovers. It was no more than 6 or 7 degrees on the Canadian scale, but I even spotted two young girls in miniskirts and fishnets.

Calgary is the quintessential oil town; and with oil comes conservatism and even fundamentalism. Therefore, it is no surprise that the province is sometimes joking called, the Saudi Albertia. Nonetheless, this same meat-and-potato town has recently elected an Indian origin mayor … much to the chagrin of Stampede cowboys.

Our odd evening stroll along the snow covered grass and under the northern sun, finally took us to the five bronze women. It was 8 pm and the solar rays were reluctantly setting on the tenacious ladies, who had fought long and hard against the old premier’s proclamation; “Madam: you are not a person!”

The tallest bronze was still proudly holding up a copy of the 1929 Journal, which had back then reported on the latest status of fight for equal rights; “Judiciary says: Women are persons”. My lovely companion commented; “you need one of these statues in Tehran”. Then, she casually proceeded to pinch my love-handle, so that I’d stop staring at the fishnet girls.