Arash’s story

Arash’s story

  

After Leili Banu had rejected the offer from her own village chief to become his second wife, and waled through harsh harsh winter storms and rigged mountains to settle in the village bear Shoush and be bear brother life was still hard for her. When she came to Harmoushi, her new village, the chief wouldn’t give her any land to farm because she was from a differed region with a different language and was not related to anyone in this village.

The Kurdish and Lorish people had always had their own tribal laws, but Shah Pahlavi the 1st, had tried to enforce national Persian laws on all minority groups. He also had a policy of taking one child from each family and making them live in dormitories in the city and receive a “modern” Persian education. It was a not only a huge shock for these young children to be removed from their nomadic tribal way of life, but it was devastating for the parents. For this reason, many parents such as Leili Banu chose to live in more isolated villages to avoid the government taking one of their children away.

In addition the Iranian government had seen how good the Kurds and Lors were at fighting to defend their lands. During the Second World War, the Russians had taken control of half of Iran, but the Kurds and Lors pushed them back as far as Tehran, so the government decided to make use of these tribal people of the Zagros Mountains.

Thus the Kurdish and Lorish people were dispersed in an effort to protect themselves and so Leili Banu and many others found themselves moving further south to Khuzestan. Some years later, Leili Banu’s daughter got married to a nice man in Abadan. After a while, Leili Banu and her son, Arash, moved to Abadan too and Arash found a good job with an oil company. Not long after that, however, Arash turned 18 and then became in danger of being called up for military service. As a result, Leili Banu took Arash and moved back to the village of Handowar near Shoush, where her sister Sahar Banu lived.

One problem in the villages of western Iran was that the Pahlavi Shahs increased the power of the Khan, or village chief. Consequently, the khans often became corrupt. Furthermore, Pahlavi II instituted village committees to rule over many aspects of village life including how much land people would get to farm. Once again, Leili Banu and Arash were denied the right to have their own land to farm, as they had come from a distant tribe.

Sahar Banu, Leili Banu’s younger sister, was married to a good man from Handowar and they lived in the black tents. Sahar Banu had four children but they all died young from such things as smallpox, whooping cough and post-natal infection. After her children died, she never got pregnant again and she also lost her husband. She mourned the loss of her children and husband all her life, but graciously tried not to show it. She did remarry but never had any more children.

  

When I was 4 years old, I was playing on the top of a little hill and I saw a lot of horses coming quickly towards our village. Suddenly, a man came and grabbed me by the hand and took me inside the village walls. He took me to Sahar Banu for her to look after me. We were attacked by Arab raiders from across the border.

I also remember when my older brothers were annoying and chasing me, I would run away and Sahar Banu, my great aunt, would call me to her for protection and I would be surrounded by the folds in her big dress. Oh, I felt so safe and secure when I was protected by her. Of course, my brothers could still see my legs easily, but they dared not harass me when Sahar Banu was looking after me. I never experienced such a warm and loving embrace as she would give me.

Copyright M Sanjarizadeh