Saturday, May 15, 2004

An Old Friend

M. T. called me today in the early morning before I go to work. I was surprised. He's a very good friend of mine and I've known him for at least 22 years! I and him had 2 great journeys. We went to Qom by bike and returned home and also once rode our bikes to Roodbar, a town just 60 KM away from Rasht the capital of Gilan province. I never forget those wonderful trips.
He currently lives in Cologne, Germany. I would like to write his story here:
M. T. is a very nice, easygoing and calm guy. I remember him from grade 7 but we were not friends on that time. Just classmates. I remember him very well because our Religious Studies teacher gave him a nickname: Aboozar! one of the prophet of Islam's followers. It was because of his last name, which obviously means lonely. He was really a lonely guy. As far as I know he did not have any close friend and I was his only real close friend.
For years M. T. used to tell me about his dreams about leaving Iran and going abroad. He told me how he tried to get a visa for the US, Australia, Canada, Britain, etc. None of them ever worked.I was accustomed to his stories.
Once, just a couple of months before I migrate to Canada, he told me that he was preparing to go to Paris and then Amsterdam and wanted me to accompany him. I never believed him, thought it's one of his stories like others. First he told me that he'd go during Norooz holidays and then said as there's not enough tourists, the travel agency postponed the travel. The next time will be around June of 2001. I said that in this case I had enough time to think about it and get prepared. Meanwhile my immigration file was processing and I was hoping to get the visa pretty soon but I never told him anything about that except once and he refused my suggestion.
As we used to hang out almost 3 days and sometimes more in a week, after Norooz holidays I didn't c a sign of him for a couple of weeks, finally decided to call him and I did. Nobody answered. Therefore after a couple of days I went to his place. His brother showed up. When I asked about M. T., the answer shocked me. He simply said: M. T. has gone!
He went to Paris first, then to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and finally Cologne. If everything goes well, I'll travel to Europe to visit him and some other friends and relatives there. I have to listen to his story. Must be very interesting. He's a talkative guy!

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