Lunch with Mr. Afshin

We were invited to lunch at Mr. Afshin’s house today. It took a while to get there because the auto rickshaw driver didn’t know where it was and had to keep asking for directions. Eventually we got there and had a wonderful lunch with Persian food and black tea!

Their home was so nicely decorated and in such a peaceful neighbourhood. It felt so calm and serene in the middle of India’s chaos.

Mr. Afshin is a very good story teller. Over our lovely cup of black tea served in traditional small glass cups, I particularly enjoyed his story about how many years ago the mullas in Iran had decided to ban tea because, after all, it comes from China a land of “infidels”, and the samovar and sugar that they used to make the tea came from Russia another land of “infidels”! This is the reason why all tea shops in Iran are called coffee shops! To add to that we had a good laugh about one of the central figures in the Baha’i Faith serving tea in a silver cup (also forbidden in Muslim tradition) to a mulla. He encouraged the followers to push the envelope on these Mulla made rules.

Now it’s time to pack. We’ve sent some things home so we’re hoping the rest will fit in our suitcases now. Hopefully it’s not too tight a fit. We need to be at the airport by about 4:30 am. I'm not looking forward to getting up so early. Tough life, right?

CM