A journey to the mystic Iran through "Searching for Hassan"

Book title: Searching for Hassan Book author: Terence Ward

The past is a country from which we all have emigrated.

—SALMAN RUSHDIE, IMAGINARY HOMELANDS

This was one of the first recommendations Barbara made to me. I explored Iran through books, read Kader Abdolah, Marjane Satrapi and resisted myself from reading this because of my habit to leave a good book to cherish later. This time I unraveled my long kept treasure and I did cherish every moment of my reading.

The author, Terry, is making a journey across Iran, where he spent his childhood, to find Hassan—a long lost friend, and re-discover the country. Through the cultural hub of the country, Shiraz, where Hafez and Saadi were born, their jeep crosses Pasargadae, where Cyrus the Great lies, and reaches Persepolis’s ancient ruin. The American caravan of four brothers and their parents reach Yazd, the great desert, they see the country’s Zoroastrian past’s remnants. The caravan leaves for Isfahan, the turquoise city of Iran, the city with rivers and bridges rivalling Florence of Italy. Leaving behind the famous carpets of Isfahan and its bazar, their jeep runs parallel the Elburz mountain range, and stops at Tehran, their once home.

Terry, Rich, Kevin, Chris—the four brothers and their parents Pat and Donna lived in Tehran for years, before the boys went to college. Hassan and Fatimeh were their second family in Tehran. The brothers completed their studies, became professional in their lives, and started their own families. A longing for home—Iran, and the long-lost friendship grew inside the family. So the journey begins.

In this journey from Shiraj to Tehran, we meet Iran’s rich traditions, Nowruj, their food, people’s hospitality, historical cross-roads, the many different cultural and religious sects who call Iran home—Parsis, Armenian Christians, Jews etc. We sneak-peak at the shark-toothed Elburz mountains through the jeep window. We pay respect to the tomb of Cyrus, we get struck in deep cultural, historical conversations.

Blended with poetic verses of Hafez and Saadi and Rumi, reading this book has been an ultimate experience for me that touched the traveller and the reader inside me. I felt I am the tenth passenger in their jeep, getting on the bumpy roads, feeling the heat, the dust, and lost in a cultural conversation with Terry's family and the tour guide Akbar…

My highlights from the book

I have tons of highlights from the book, many of them poetic to melt me with one read, to make me wanna visit Iran in a heartbeat. Will wrap my review with this quote, which seemed most meaningful to me today in this book’s context…

Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

—RUMI