Kandou: A Man Without A Star

I finally gave up work and took a three week long vacation to my fatherland, or motherland Iran. After being away for five years, I expected so many changes, but to be honest, not at this level...

My points of interests have always been political, economical and cultural status, all of which have changed dramatically during the past few years I was away. This is ironically surprising for me, as I always thought that by following the news and all the written documents published in web logs and other websites, I can actually keep up with the changes. My trip to Iran proved that I was wrong...social changes happen in a much faster pace than to follow them...also, I realized that the "written" documents can only reflect so much of the changes. For the rest, one has to be in the heart of action to feel and breathe the changes...

On summary, I was happy to see the changes in culture...mass of media are produced for everyone and are accessible by every one at unbelievably cheap prices. I think the prices of books; movies and software are second to none as compared with the rest of day to day expenses. On the other hand, I was sad to hear that for the same reason it took a few years for these changes to materialize after Khatami took over, they might even disappear a a short time because the new team considers every thing from "security" point of view...This is horrific since I know it by heart now more than ever, in order to build our country, we need to improve our culture...

I will discuss my other observations in future.

I also came back here to say, I am here...just too busy! However, I have decided to activate my English web log and try to spread my observations around. I guess one problem when analyzing Iran's issues is lack of enough knowledge of what really is happening there. Maybe if every one try to reflect what truly is going on, then we can make a difference...

Posted by ME at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

The right answer is that " I would give my car to my friend, and ask him to drive the old lady...I would stay with the girl of my dreams and try my chances..."

Well...as we were told, out of the 300 participants inthe interview, only one got the right answer, and ofcourse got the job.

Having said that, it was amazing that almost 20 guys,and about 25 ladies replied (half of whom via an email list dedicated to graduate students (Masters, PhD). All guys, with exception of only one replied with the right answer. Regretfully, all girls responded with wrong answers, with most of them suggesting that the old lady comes first in thepriority list.

I came to the conclusion, that ladies not only see theworld out of "beautifying" magnifier, but also they show that emotions still out power strategy! I am sure if I had changed the subject with a girl driving the car, a girlfriend, an old man, and a "man" of dreams (if such thing exists!!!!) they would still not suggest openly that they some how try to get hooked up with the fabulous guy! Some may even argue that their man of dreams (if any!!) would not be waiting in a bus stop freezing to death (just kidding)!!

On the other hand, guys show that no matter what, theydo not give up on opportunities, and they are ready to risk their loved ones (their car, in this case), for a probabilistically unknown chance of wining!

Posted by ME at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

You might have heard this, but I thought it is worth sharing again. This is an interview question asked from 300 men, applying for a job in a non-profit organization.

You are driving your car in a middle of a freezing cold night. Your car has only ONE seat left. You approach a bus stop, and eye three individuals waiting for the next bus. There is an old woman, who is obviously suffering from the cold. There is one of your old old friends, who actually did you a big favor a while ago, and third comes a girl, one of the types with whom you would imagine to be in your dreams.

What would you do?

Out of 300 men, only one had the right answer, and got the job offer. I wanted to compare it to our class of MBA's! if you have heard it before and/or know the right answer, please keep it to yourself for now. This is for people with no previous knowledge of the situation.

Posted by ME at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

These days another was has broken out in Middle East. This time Israelis are aggressively bombarding Lebanon’s infrastructural facilities, such as bridges, freeways, tunnels, power generation plans, airports and so forth. Now this is a multi-dimensional issue. On one hand, Israel is claming to do so upon its desire to promote security of its citizens who reside along the border of southern Lebanon. These people are claimed to be target of frequent missiles and rockets shot by Hezbollah into Israel's territory. By referring to UN's Resolution 1559, Lebanon must have cleared the southern part of the country from Hezbollah Militia, and maintain its control be sending Lebanon National Army to the region to serve as peace keepers. 6 years after that, Lebanon was unable to disarm Hezbollah and maintain its control over the southern borders. The question is, has Israel responded positively to all UN resolutions in the past? This is a logical question to ask. On the moral side, does a few missiles, with limited accuracy and destruction power justify such an aggressive offense against the infrastructures that are claimed to be used by Hezbollah?

Even if such harsh retaliation has some points of logic, the targets are so beyond innocence caught in the differences of Israelis and Hezbollah Guerrillas. One back by USA, and the other supported, financially and logistically by pro-Islamic forces in the region. In between, there is the nation of Lebanon who is paying the worst of it. Its facilities destroyed, its army dominated by militias, its people under the fear of air offences, and its kids living in the miserable unwanted war. Why should "they" pay for this??

Posted by ME at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Some times I think I need to sit back and relax, and enjoy a coffee and TV shows, instead of following news for economics and politics. As a matter of fact, I was drawn to political news because I was interested in economics.

It all started when the coalition attacked Iraq in 1990. At that time I was a high school student, thirsty to know why and how! Maybe I had a good feeling that some one is crushing our worst enemy of all time. However, that was a motivation to follow the news for political issues and thus economic concerns in years after that.

One thing studying economy has taught me, is that there is no defined model. A formula proven to be successful in a region, might completely fail in the next. Each situation has its unique characteristics based on which certain strategies must be developed to mitigate its problems.

Some times I think I would have done a lot better should I have entered economics or yet better, political economics. That would have been fun and action!

Posted by ME at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

When I remember how we used to treat Afghanis fleeing to Iran after their civil war broke out, I laugh at how our intellectuals critic the new immigration bill proposed to legalize the status of those living in USA illegally for a long time.

The fact of the matter is, it is always easy to criticize and run away from responsibility. It is always easy to use the freedom of expression provided by American values to hammer them with whatever we can.

One important aspect of legalizing the status of illegal immigrants is the tax. We can't forget that illegal immigrants live on other tax payers shoulders. They use public services such as schools, roads, highways, airports and so forth which are mainly funded by income taxes collected by the municipal, state and federal governments.

All that aside, why do you think legalizing them is not a final solution to figure out a consistent, steady status? Why bring emotions towards issues that need technical knowledge to solve?

It is always easy to picture a girl, who claims to be a good student and not a criminal. Perfect image to bring tears to people's eyes...how ever, who values other legal residents' rights who work hard and pay taxes and do not receive as much service as they should, because they are used up by "illigal" immigrants.

Assuming that it is reasonable to critic US government for their role in bringing up these issues. Do you really thing Iranian intellectuals are qualified to make that accusations? Don't you think they must go first clean up their own mess with Afghanis, or even Iranian nations other than Fars?

Posted by ME at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

Kandou means "BEEHIVE"...

I may have mentioned why I have called blog Kandou. A few decades (two, actually, or even more) ago, I saw a movie called "A Man Without A Star". It was a western spaghetti movie, starring Kirk Douglas.

It was about a man who had no destination. Whatever destiny would bring for him, he would welcome! His life, as a gun slinger, was spent drinking, gambling and some casual contract cowboy work! he did fall in love, but that didn't last long either! But...life goes on, right?

Now, when I was in my early twenties, I saw an Iranian movie called "Kandou". It was almost exactly the same character! A man, with no plans for his life...goes where destiny takes him! Of course the story lines were quite different!

When I was a kid, I always loved the idea and growing old, so when some asks me who I am, or what I do, I can answer: I am A Man Without A Star!!

Now I guess I can...

Posted by ME at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments