Ladies and Gentlemen, You have come to this place to day, most probably, to find some answers to certain questions you no doubt have about my country, concerning its recent past and present conditions. I cannot boast of any speciality I am afraid, but the friends who have organised this colloquium have assured me that […]
[Persian Title: Hezaar Bishe. Text availalable on this site] An anthology of Views, Reviews and Interviews in Persian, English and French
Three years ago, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death sentence against the writer Salman Rushdie shocked the whole world. Yet no effective action was undertaken by anyone, anywhere, to counter this most unprecedented and inhuman “manhunt” of our time. Individuals, of course, demonstrated their indignation as well as their frustration, hoping against all odds that their respective […]
N.P.R.: Why did you contribute to the book called “For Rushdie”? You now have a fatwa against you. This would be seen as a provocation, as a spitting in the eye of the Iranian regime. Why are you taking the risk of doing this? M.A.: Surely, the provocation has come from the Islamic Republic of […]
Once on top of a London double-decker bus, amidst civilised whispering voices punctuated with crisp rustles of newspapers, I heard a little girl’s voice asking, “Mummy is our cat a she-cat or a he-cat?” Whispers and rustles subsided just enough for the mother’s answer to be audible: “A he-cat dear.” The tone was firm and […]
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am not a politician, and my other habits are good! That is why, whenever I have to talk politics, and of late I seem to be doing nothing but, I try to warm up to the subject by telling a story. The story is, oftener than not, a fable by James […]
