Zurich, Bahnhof Square
1. Thank you all for you kind comments. I think I have hard time stop writing. I think this is one thing I am more or less addicted to it!
Have a look at the picture I have taken from main square of Zurich. I heard in Toronto is unusually warm and here on the other hand is unusually cold!!
II.
Why am I here? Why you are there? Who? You, yes? You!
For the past few weeks I wonder why I ended up here? What makes us wandering around world? And ended up somewhere?
I always wonder if the condition was before revolution what would have been happened! Would have we ever left Iran? I don't know I hardly think this way!
...
But I start with the story of mine. The short story that will focus on last two years I was back in Iran.
shall I start ... Ahan, I was born in…, no, no, that is too boring! Perhaps I have to tell why I get to travel so much.
Yes, this is the good start! For anything out there, there hasto be a reason, at least it has been for me!
I am almost 6 years of age. A trauma for my right eye where I had to do first operation and this is coinciding with start of Iran and Iraq war. The airport is bombarded by Iraqis. No flight to abroad.
The first operation was performed in Iran. Who did it? Dr. Malek-madani who was one of the best at the time, apparently! But the operation wasn’t successful. We were told that I must to be taken to US. I remember so vividly my father's hair when came out after 18 hours being under operation were all white!
We waited a few months, then went to Germany and tried to get a US visa. Time was running out, my father’s friend was a radiologist at a local hospital. He suggested that I should pay a visit to polyclinic specializing in ophtalmalogy to evalute my eye condition and see how are things progressing! They said I must get operation. Today is better than tomorrow!
I went under operation. The operation went ok by standard of then. since then I wear contact-lens plus glasses. No one can recognize that I ever had a trauma in my right eye or people may have been nice to me!!
I stayed in Germany a few times for a few years. One of them was during my teenage years which I spent in a boarding school. After that when my parents took me back to Iran, I started to realized that revolution has changed many things not to mention war. I was in Iran until war was ended. I was son of revolution. I could see how the culture of revolution was promoted! I wasn’t feeling at home! I wanted freedom to express. I was perfectionist. I was environmentalist.
None of these factors could have been met there. My parents especially my dad was develop the habit of being too protective of me! Feeling any moment I may die!
I promised to myself that I will leave Iran, because I want to be free. Follow my own destiny and dream. I never become religious. I never believed in getting married to a virgin girl! I ended up being in Germany with the admission I got due to my acceptance to the Tehran university. Being in Germany I realized I don’t like the language (Swiss German is cute, though:-). I felt the same cynicism in the entire German environment as I have already seen in Iran. So, I decided if I stay there I run out of my mind so I moved to Canada!
Being in Canada thought me many things. I leaned English (I know not that well)! I learned how to be politically correct! How things may work or can be shown to be working! I learned Canadians in the Toronto are not very open people to get along with. Canada was a promise land where I become an Engineer. I enjoyed nature there. I did camping. I enjoyed none-smoking bars (for a short period, though!) Represented graduate students in Canadian Confederation of Students.
6 months after September 11; I along more than 30 other non-white people got laid off. I was working with a Dutch-Canadian guy who I was his TA at university. I once told him we all, who have middle Eastern name, will get laid off. He said they should laying off me before they lay off you, I have learned everything I know here from you!
A few months later I got laid off but as far as I know until I left Canada a years later he was still there. I saw him couple of time and we went out. He could still not believe what had happened but he agreed with me that people were racially oriented in that company!!
I work for a short period as a biomedical scientist in one of major Toronto's hospital, though that didn’t last long! Since no funding came in from governement.
I went back to Iran, afew months later. I started to look for a job right after 3rd day of my arrival. I wanted to experience Iran first hand. I went to a first job I found. I become involved with refinery construction of Asalouyeh. Did not get paid for 3 months there. But then after 4 months they paid only for two months of my employment!
I realized I was just covering up for mismanagement in that company. So, I had to quit!
The storey was like this: An Italian Company had agreed to construct a phase of gas refinery of Asaloueh. They had to accept an Iranian partner as the law enforces this. The Iranian partner was supposed to make general blue prints ready for construction and choose a sub-contractor for construction purposes.
However, what did the general contractor did? The management of general contractor took the money went to Europe for a round trip. They more or less ignore the dead-line which was two and half years!!
I realized many of these general contactors have connection to another subcontractor. The general contractor of the Italian Company almost a year to the due date chooses a sub-contractor who claims to be able to finish it on time. Then, the sub-contactor’s managers start to fly to Europe. About less than a nine month to the due date. The sub-contractor start without any plan to make the detailed drawings based on general drawings given by Italian Compnay! It took them 1.5 years after I left to finish the project! According to the bonded contract between European and Iranian company the Iranian company was at fault and mismanagement. And they have to extend and pay penalty to foreign counterpart! It is so amazing these Iranian companies never go bankrupt.
Who do you think would pay this extra money? Not from packet of managers or company's financial booking. Of course, the money is paid from the tax payers and from Oil money. No one complains. I found the employees are vanity of absences!
The companies have no money to pay to their employees but they have tons of money to pay fines!
I protested so much in that company that I was considered a rebel employee. I complained about mismanagement to the management! I argued so much with them that that only people who saw me can confirm this. I cannot believe it myself how I was doing those arguments!
Europeans have also leaned from these tricks and now they have all included such a clause in their contacts about late penalties. Funny enough, foreign sometimes pay under table money to high management or even a round tip to those in the top management so, they would waste time to receive more money this way!!
While working there I tried universities to find a job in biomedical engineering or at least get involved in something I like, this was the reason I came back to be part of Iran development!...
To be continued...
III: My opinion on Nuclear activity of Iran!
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