A PERSIAN FAMILY

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30829, 14 August 1965, Page 4

A PERSIAN FAMILY

Persia Revisited. By Anne Sinclair Mehdevi. Michael Joseph. 173 pp. The author is an American, married to Mahomet Mehdevi, a member of an old and aristocratic Persian family whoseclannishness is well-illustrated in these pages. Having been accepted, though a foreigner as Mahomet’s wife, Mrs Mehdevi innocently incurred disgrace by writing a book in which she thought she had depicted Persia in affectionate terms, and brought down on herself the wrath of the head of the family, respectfully known as Hajji Melek. The most formidable patriarch since Abraham, this vindictive, but still likeable old man enjoyed absolute obedience on his 90 descendants, and only, when in his middle eighties, Hajji Melek’s desire to see his eldest son softened his attitude towards the latter’s wife were the couple formally invited to visit the family home in Teheran. Though they had been away for 10 years Hajji Melek was not there to welcome them, having characteristically taken off on a European tour when they arrived. Her contempt purged however, Mrs Mehdevi was welcomed by her lovely and gentle mother-in-law, but being anxious to have a home of her own she set about finding one. After several unsuccessful attempts to rent a house through advertisments, she found accommodation through the family’s influence, while their kindness extended to furnishing it for her. The explosion of a very expensive stove (which she had purchased from a fellow American) interrupted the tenancy, and the couple moved in with Mahomet’s sister Mitrah. The return of Hajji Melek put the whole family in a flutter, and Anne was much relieved to find herself, after a torturing period of uncertainty, in his good graces once more. This patriarchal approval was cemented when it was discovered that his resentment over her book had been due to a misapprehension caused by a mistake in translation. From now onwards the author settled down happily, and has chronicled divertingly something of the life and cus-

toms of her adopted country. Second names are a more or less recent development, and are often derived from occupation or characteristics. For example, the family chauffeur, though himself a punctual and dependable person, was called “Mr Later-On” —evidently an unfortunate inheritance; but this at any rate must be considered preferable to the mercilessly functional “Mr CorpseWasher”! The treatment of Persian rugs is also, to say the least of it unusual. New ones are put in the open street to be driven over and trampled on until the surplus fluff has been removed, when they are thoroughly washed, and thereafter become a recognised form of capital to their makers, who keep them in a bank vault, and hire them out for limited periods. As these rugs are practically indestructible there are worse ways of conserving an interest-bearing investment. Upper-class girls (as instanced by the author’s niece Sari) suffer from a painful psychological dichotomy, for they scorn the traditional arranged-marriage customs, while respecting their country’s other traditions, and constantly strive to come to terms with the modern world. Always strictly chaperoned, these young women are apt to live boring and rather colourless lives. The author had a moving experience when she briefly took over a class of 15 girls in a state school. Struggling against the inherited ignorance of centuries they applied themselves passionately to an education which would elevate them to the ranks of middle-class workers, and Mrs Mehdevi sensed the danger of suicide, or even a threat to her own safety, if she failed them in their exams. The Persian, whether rich or poor, is shown as a gentle and kindly person, though Hajji Melek’s sudden death, intestate, posed an inheritance problem which was as complex as his mercurial personality. But in the spirit world he could not, this time, disapprove of his daughter-in-law’s literary estimate of his people.