A Fine D’Artagnan
Salty Eye, Sweet Play. Written in Four Vignettes, No. 4. “You always get to be D’Artagnan!” cried Morteza. “Well, I am the oldest,” said Mehdi. “No, you’re not. Niku’s the oldest.” “Niku’s a girl! A girl can’t be one of the three musketeers!” “D’Artagnan isn’t one of the three musketeers, Mehdi,” said Niku coolly, leaning…
Notes on Hammam Days
There is a Persian saying, بکشید و خوشگلم کنید (bokoshid o khoshgelam konid), meaning “kill me and make me beautiful” that immediately sprang to mind when I was researching the ingredients in vajebi, a traditional depilatory powder used in Iran. The ingredients in traditional vajebi are calcium bicarbonate, arsenic sulfide and clay. In recent years,…
Hammam Days
Salty Eye, Sweet Play. Written in Four Vignettes, No. 3. Thursday afternoons at the public hammam were hot and uncomfortable and to be avoided at all costs. Besides the white veil of steam that cast a certain mystery over the otherwise simple old bath house, the hammam was not half as romantic as the European…
al-majus 