the Bus Driver

After minutes of waiting the bus came. I got in and there were no seats so I stood right behind the driver. The driver's face I could see in the mirror was different from the photo on the license pasted on the bus above his head. He looked much younger in the photo. There was a hand written piece of paper pasted above the front glass showing 12 percent of fare increased. I asked the driver that if the raise is a general fare increase or only this line added to its services. He said; "No, Only long routes." And continued: "this fare raise was planned months ago but there was a halt for [presidential] elections, and the aftermath unrest, until last Thursday, we were told to imply the raise". I think he really needed to talk, because usually this folks do not enter such conversations, but he continued. "People have hard time. I myself fail to pay 4 of my loan payments". "What payments"? I asked. He answered, "3, 5 years ago I was dismissed of my former workplace and got this bus by installments. And now there is no liquid Gas for this kind of vehicle, only very few left working in Tehran". "Why", I asked. Because the gas installations are from the Germany and France, since we are under sanctions and we do not have enough equipment, so the government has to get spare parts from the other installations". To find out if I got it correctly I said; "You mean the existing installations are working on the price of closing others."Yes" he replied and added;" I have to commute a long way to the gas station. I wake up 04:30 and go home midnight. My colleague who had no fuel wanted me to trail him to the station yesterday, on the way he could not control his bus and bumped into my bus. The back glass broke; its price is 200,000 Tuman [$200]. I went home last night and was deeply depressed. My four-year-old wanted to have fun with me; I pushed him aside his face hit the frame of the door, he fainted and his chick got swollen. The whole family including my father began to scold me for that. Then I found a place to be alone and cried". I was now next to him and this time I looked at him directly instead of through mirror, his face crumpled and I was not brave enough to continue watching him break. I already was there in my destination but I was in state of shock and could not move.
Walking to office, workers were rebuilding the pavement in the park, which was no longer charming to me. New buildings were rising up and printing money for their owners around the street. The face of the bus driver was in my mind. I felt I was nothing. I could not do anything, nothing.

Iranian Journalist's Day

August 8 is the anniversary of Mahmoud Saremi, the Iranian journalist killed in Afghanistan. He was murderd in Mazarsharif by Taliban armed men in 1998. Since then, Iranian people in particular media concerns commemorate their deceased comrade by naming the day as Journalist's day.
In this day, different associations, public or governmental, hold ceremonies with a vast variety of contents and qualities every year. Mostly aim to reflect and echo the journalist, reporters and other media related issues to the people and authorities. On the other side, the authorities too, try to orient or sometimes dictates the objectives and strategies which the state pursues.
At times, depends on the country's atmosphere and who runs the event, the number of participants and the quality gatherings differ remarkably. However, what so ever will be the observance of the day; it is significant that by honoring Saremi's loss, the country expresses its respect and admiration to journalist's contributions to the life of society.

A PhD from Kualalampur

It is now 02:30 am. I again cannot sleep. It has been the case ever since I watched reformist's confession in the court.

I have another concern to lose sleep tonight. An old colleague who has been studying PhD in Malaysia since 7 years ago visited us in the office. He was explaining to us why he admires Ahmadinejad's Government. At first, we thought he was joking, but to our surprise, he was very much serious. In the beginning, our colleagues got mad but I could manage to calm them down and tried to open a logical discussion with him. I asked if he could name what exactly attracted him in Ninth administration. He replied the condition of poor people and rural dwellers is improved. I asked for his source of information. He replied, "I". Then again I asked: "Oh! Have you done any systematic research on this"? His response was negative. "Then how did you reach to this conclusion". I asked. He answered "my own observation". Then I continued, "but you have been away for long". He explained: "Anyway the news reach to us". I added it is not better to refer to some economist's learning. He said: "those economists are all Capitalist oriented and I do not approve them!???