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December 28, 2007
Work in progress 3
Working in progress 3
By the time Agha Bozorgeh was twenty seven he had his own store front in the main drag of the bazaar. he dealt in all sorts, from scrap metals to home appliances. His business was strong and he was making a name for himself amongst his colleagues. he was making a good living, good enough to save money, and purchase his first house. As good as he was doing in his store he was doing so much more in the store cellar. That was where he warehoused his Antique collections. He had rich merchants, government officials and foreign dignitaries as clients. They would come to the store and then follow him down stairs, and in a few hours they would leave with wrapped packages carried by the store workers right behind them.
The house he had purchased was a small house in Moshirol Saltaneh, one of the best neighborhoods, where the house were much larger than his, populated by wealthy landowners, merchants and many relatives of the Gadjar's ruling king, Ahmad Shah. Going to work every day he witnessed a large property that was being built with tall walls taking over of a half of the block. he asked around and found out that the property belonged to a Gadjar Prince who was building a little fortress for himself. Every day he passed by it he dreamt of one day owning it.
Soon his mother started pushing him to get married. the thought appealed to him. Having a wife would add so much to his prestige in the Bazaar, and having a son to carry after him was thrilling. He told his mother to look around, it was time. The main arena for mothers looking for future wives for their sons, and the ones looking to marry their daughters was ether the public bath, or the Sofreh's ( religious gatherings , mostly attended by women and their daughters for launch. neighbors and relatives were invited to seat around a Sofreh which was a long wide white cloth t on the rug on the floor for the guest to sit around it and eat specific ceremonial soups and foods, while a Mullah would do a sermon sitting in the adjoining room), this was where most gossip of the neighborhood was shared and the attending women and girls felt free enough to take their veils off and show off their latest dresses and jewelries but most of all their pubescent daughters to each other.
The other venue was the public bath. Going to bath had its own certain rituals and usually it took the whole day. the lady of the house and her daughters would pack fruits and sweets, and launch for their venture, usually carried by the female servants who went along. The Public bath were divided to men and women. It consisted of a very large hall that was finished with tiles from wall to floors and ceilings. there was a smaller room before the main hall where the attendees could disrobe, and leave their clothes. Once inside the women were mostly naked with a towel around them. There was a large deep pool in the middle of hall and showers set all around the walls. There were many Dalaks ( mostly older ladies who washed the women and got paid for it) and every family had their own Dalak who had helped them through out the years. The ladies would take a swim inside the heated pool, and then sit to be scrubbed with a Kiseh ( a rough cloth the fit the dalak's hand like a mitten). then took another dip in the pool, sat around, got washed gain with the Dalak using a Leefeh( a soft soaped sponge cloth). took another dip in the pool, got their hair washed and rinsed under the shower before they leave.
Public bath was more of a social gathering for these women who were mostly kept inside their house with covered curtains on the windows and not much socialising. they lived a lonely lives carrying on their house hold duties, cooking which took the most of their time, washing the clothes ( wealthier people had servants do most chores but cooking was mostly done by the lady of the house). So there was great anticipation when the time for bath came and no one was in a hurry to leave. They were free here to roam around naked talk to each other, get to know new people, and some even brought Dumbak ( a musical tool consisting of a container covered tightly on top by thin animal skin, sheep or deer, using their fingers and thumbs the player could make rhythms and music) they played and danced, had their launches, took a nap, swam again in the pool and in the late afternoon went back home.
There were also ceremonial bathng occasions for the new Bride, or for pregnant women ready for birth. For the new Bride , mother of the bride would rent the whole bath for a day. Female relatives favarable to the family on both sides would be invited. there would be music, fruits and pasteries, and lunchens. the new Bride to be would be treated to a whole day of grooming, with a few Dallaks working on her all day. First a skilled Band andaz ( frmale groomer who uses two pieces of strings and by runnibg them against each other on the face it would remove the acsess hairs) would band the bride's face. Then another Dallak would use Vajebi ( a home made remedy to remove coraser hair from arms and legs) to clean the brides extremeties from any unwanted hair. After ward a specialist would pick the eyebrows ( a grils eyebrow would not be picked until she marries- picked eyebrows were the sign of womanhood ). Then they apply Sefidab ( a white grooming foundation) and Sorkhab ( rosey powder to be applied on the cheeks). There also would be the ceromonial Hana Bandoon ( applying Hana on hands, nails, feet and toes) to finish up the grooming. Sometimes there also would be carriages carried by servants waiting for the Bride to take hr to where the ceremony was. caravan of relatives would walk behind the carriage and some servants caryy Gas lamps to lit the road.
Dalaks served an important part in these gatherings. They knew who had a beautiful girl, if she was pretty without any physical problems. They knew when each family came to bath and could let the inquirer know when to be there to see the young girl in the flesh. They would also work as a go between, introducing the mothers of young men to the mothers of the young girls and if everything went thorough they would get paid handsomely. they were the source of many Gossip, who was beaten by her husband lately, who ws pregnant, who had a miscarriage, and some times most of the deep secrets of their clients were trusted to them. Agha Bozorgs mother had tried and attended some of the Sofrehs n the neighborhood, but she hadn't found any candidates to her liking. she knew2 for her son to get married the bride had to be the prettiest girl around. The only other alternative was to make connection with the oldest Dalack in the neighborhood bath.
She met Massoumeh the Dalak at the bath hall, after explaining her predicament, she passed her a fresh hundred Riyal Bill, showing how serious she ws in her intentions. Massoumeh told her she knew of a new girl in the neighborhood, a very tall pubescent girl named Raana who had light brown hair, creamy skin, with luscious lips and large hazel eyes, she was definitely the most beautiful girl in the neighborhood, and she was always smiling, running around the bath, dancing and all together a very happy girl. Agha Bozorg's mother asked of her age, and when she could see the girl herself and was told by Massoumeh that Raana was Twelve, but a fully grown woman at that age. she also told Agha Bozorg's mother that she expected to see Raana and her mother the following week on Saturday morning.
The Following Saturday agha Bozorg's mother made her way to the bath, where she was greeted by Massoumeh and after getting another hundred Riyal bill, Massoumeh pinted Raana who was plying and swimming in the pol to Agha Bozorg's mother. Massoumeh also told her that Raana was recently engaged to marry her cousin but the poor boy had tuberculosis and Raana's mother had broken the engagement. Agha Bozorg's mother took her time and slowly got herself to where Raana's mother was sitting with a Dalak working on her. She sat next to Raana's mother and introduced herself as the newcomer to the neighborhood. rana's mother was a rather young beautiful women in her early thirties. she had light brown her and even more beautiful than her daughter. they talked and soon they found out they had many things in common. Rana's mother was also married in her youth to an older landowner in Isfahan ( one of the wealthy larger states south of Tehran, which used to be the capital during Safavid's dynasty and ws famous for its many magnificent landmarks designed and built at the heights of Islamic arts.) . after her husband's death she also had brought her only daughter with her to Tehran, joining her family and had married a relative of hers, living not too far from where Agha Bozorg and her mother lived.
Raana's mother invited her to join them for launch, and soon Raana came and sat by them. Now agha Bozorg's mother had an opportunity to thoroughly watch raana and see if she was suitable to be her Son's bride. Raana was tall, much taller than an average women in that time in Iran. She had long arms and legs. probably one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen, beautiful bosoms and wide hips to bring healthy children to her future husband. she had beautiful singing voice and was mostly singing underlips, always smiling which opened her beautiful face and made her much more endearing to any one around.
Posted by Idinraha at December 28, 2007 10:58 AM