My Story of Kermanshah

'Kermanchah (sic) - uniformly passive and plaintive as a forgotten cradle, Kermanchah sighs in the sun and gently rocks the gaze, with neither shock nor revolt' - Houshang Seyhoun, 1974. *

I once lived in Kermanshah, a city that is the capital of Kermanshah province in Iran. It is a city nestled near the Zagros Mountains and has a climate almost Mediterranean-like. It is one of the cradles of prehistoric cultures ...

'Steps up an alleyway lined with brick houses. The walls are pierced by square openings letting through the light and merchants' cries. On the bend the exquisite shape of a plain wooden door studded in copper'.

After the Iranian Revolution, Kermanshah became Bakhtaran (because the Mullahs did not like the 'shah' in the name). But then the people never took to the new name, so it reverted to the old. So Kermanshah it is. I lived there during the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war, so life was pretty harrowing. There were the curfews, the queues for necessities, the bombardments ...

'A sloping street where the charm of crooked houses joins with that of the telegraph pole held in its precarious position by its untidy headdress'. 

But life had to be lived. M worked as a chemist in a paint factory when the local university closed indefinitely and I was busy bringing up baby B. Living in the upstairs apartment in an uptown house was interesting enough. Our landlord and his family lived downstairs and sometimes 'babysat' B. I would then step out the front door, hail a taxi and go to the shops or bazaar or roadside stalls to get whatever was necessary.

In Kermanshah, the Kurds/Kurdish people in the streets always fascinated me - in part because I thought they were carefree gypsies. Their clothes were distinctive - the men in their unique trousers and the women in their long and colourful skirts. Although I could not speak the Kurdish language, I had no problems 'communicating' with them in my 'bazaar Farsi' - buying fruits, vegetables, even silk scarves and shawls.

Aside from the historic (and prehistoric) sites, Kermanshah's valleys and mountains are a sight to behold. We had picnics with friends in spring and summer to enjoy the great outdoors as much as was possible.

Kermanshah valley and mountains (1981) 

*Drawings of Kermanshah by Houshang Seyhoun, architect extraordinaire of Iran, are from the book, 'Regards sur l'Iran; dessins de H. Seyhoun. 1974.
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