A friend of mine jokingly once asked me: do you choose to fall in love with countries with peculiar problems or does it just happen?
Myanmar, for instance. For a period of 2002-2019, i was able to visit Myanmar multiple times and had a chance to see the country from north to the south , to the west to the east in the company of my Burmese friends. I truly enjoyed the country, the people, the food and the kind ambiance of the country.
I do not have to tell you what is happening in Myanmar!
Iran entered my life very early. I remember reading Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat while still in school and i still remember some of his verses. I was very fond of reciting them while I was a school student
Unborn tomorrow, dead yesterday
why fret about them, if today be sweet.
Hamadan and the tomb of Queen Esther in Hamadan..
My best friend in Kuala Lumpur, MYC, introduced me to things Persian, as that city hosts a large iranian exile community. but the person who truly rekindled my desire and love for Iran was a graduate student at Henly Business School. I think it was she who told me about Shamloo and Soheil Nafisi and Farogh as well as many other artists .. songs.. movies..
With each passing month, my love for Iran grew. alas, I was advised against visiting Iran.
Now I can enjoy Iran only on line and I wish my friends there the best.. despite the situation in the country.. but the goodness of the people would prevail.
I do not have to tell you what is happening in Iran?
OH CUBA OH MY POOR CUBA
I can travel freely in and out of Cuba and it is the country where i feel all the genuine affections in the world. But I cannot forget the dire economic situation in Cuba, the useless Cuban passport ( so is the Burmese or Iranian passport) to whom no one would give visa unless you are bent on visiting Montenegro or Indonesia, the sense of uselessness, powerlessness and lack of hope the people feel. I love you and miss you, my little island, but i do not have strength any more to carry your burden..
Please do not get me wrong, there are many other countries and cities that I love..
Australia whose passport that I hold
Malaysia and to a lesser extent Cambodia
Israel France London Paris ..
Paris is a good place to be, when you are in love..
Lately I say, I am 1/3 Cuban 1/3 French 1/3 Israeli
a clever man asked, that makes up only 99 per cent and what about the one percent, okay make it Cochini..
and the place where I became a Doctor of Medicine and an Anthropologist .. London
