Vamsidhar > Recent Status Updates

'My counsellors helped me see that I was lured into a world I was too naive to understand, and was taken advantage of in the most merciless way. Now I know I wasn’t a child prostitute. There’s no such thing; only children who have been horrifically sexually abused and a price put on their heads.'

'The little girl who dreamed of being an air hostess and travelling the world had left for good the night he had taken me to that house, and I wasn’t sure if she’d ever return.'

'Now, I had two choices: obey his every command and have him use and abuse me, like a piece of meat. Put up with the constant phone calls, the rough, painful sex and the abuse. Or, risk saying something and have him do to Mum – and maybe, God forbid, my little sisters – what he’d done to me. What else could I do, but never defy this man again?'

"...but ultimately they’d wanted the same thing – easy sexual gratification without any emotion or thought for anyone they embarrassed or hurt in order to get it."

Ebi was upset when he saw Leora. “Why do they subject such young children to wearing the hijab in a school where all students and personnel are female? No one can peek inside. Why the hijab?”
Leora began to kiss the posters of the ayatollahs that were displayed everywhere we went.She had learned to wave her fists in the air and chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” She had no idea where these places were

“Just a few years ago before we met, I was here with my friends. I would walk the sandy beaches in my swimsuit, and no one bothered to look at me. Now, a few strands of hair peeking out of my headscarf is enough to have me arrested. I can’t even go in the water with my husband.”

They had divided the beach into two sections: the women to the left, and the men to the right.
I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I turned to Ebi and sarcastically said, “Moses parted the Red Sea, and now, Khomeini has parted the Caspian Sea.”

'Standing back up, I saw a large wooden sign: “To preserve the moral values of our society, the beaches are segregated into Brothers and Sisters areas.” Since the revolution, the two genders were addressed as “brothers” and “sisters” and had to be kept separate.'

'After the revolution, the reversal of street signs from names of the royals or foreign dignitaries to revolutionary or martyrs’ titles had become a new strategy to influence the psyche of the people. The new street names in the public arena reaffirmed the principles of the new order.'

'That summer, I had another reason to be upset. The news on the radio crushed all my hopes for the future. The government announced that from this day forward, all universities and higher education institutions in the country were to shut down. (The closures lasted three years) . How could a country shut down all higher education for an unspecified time?'

'That summer, I had another reason to be upset. The news on the radio crushed all my hopes for the future. The government announced that from this day forward, all universities and higher education institutions in the country were to shut down. (The closures lasted three years.) How could a country shut down all higher education for an unspecified time?'

'The pop music that had dominated culture in the previous regime was banned. From now on, only revolutionary music, with its marching beat and galvanizing message of camaraderie to build a new era of independence from any foreign dominance, was celebrated."

'Anyone who opposed the new order was considered to be “mofsed-e fel-arz,” meaning one who “sows corruption on Earth.” Khalkhali had developed a new judicial concept called “obvious guilt.” In his court of justice, the accused was presumed guilty if his or her “crimes” were “very clear” prior to the trial. Khalkhali’s court became known for speedy trials, guilty verdicts, and executions by firing squad.'

"The next day, in addition to 'Marg bar Amrika' and 'Marg bar Esraeel' (Death to America and Death to Israel), 'Marg bar bi-hijab' (Death to the women who are without the hijab) was added to the chanting playlist."

“You have many portable thinking machines. I ask favor: You give one to me as gift, question?”

“A laptop? You want a laptop? Sure, I have a bunch of them.”

The bromance is unexpectedly wholesome.