Yet, it is also true that I was obsessed with Iran and had almost personified the entire country in my head as a lover. The thesis allowed me to live in New York but daydream of Iran. “It’s Iran — just like it’s India.”“The Americans have chosen to hate Iran,” said an Iranian businessman, who, in recent years, was jailed for large‐scale financial fraud. I started to sense that my obsession with Iran was really my desire to nurture my ability to mourn. Saffron was mixed with minced meat, and I sat there watching everything — an outsider trying to understand Iranian ways of dealing with grief.

Source: Indian Express March 11, 2026 05:42 UTC