از چایخانه ای در ایران*

کتابی که اخیرا تمام کردم، خواندنی بود. اگرچه 50-60 سال پیش نوشته شده بود و خیلی از نکات نوشته شده در مورد کشور ایران و مردمش با دنیای امروز ایران تفاوت فاحشی داشت، ولی از خواندن آن لذت بردم. قلم نویسنده محشر بود و خالی از طنز تلخ نبود. چند جمله ای را برای یادآوری به خود در اینجا می نویسم. حتما قسمت اول که تفسیری از چلو کباب است را بخوانید. گمانم منظور از

spice

سماغ بوده. ضمنا می گویند که املای صحیح سماغ با "غ" است

The main ingredient, as with almost every Persian dish, was rice; exceptionally prepared as it always is in Persia, and decorated with saffron. Two steaks of indifferent meat came with it, and the yolk of a raw egg was broken over the whole. Tomatoes and spices were added, followed by bottles of dugh, a kind of sour milk which every Persian regards as essential part of at least one meal a day. p 118 

The quanat system is as old as Persia itself...The quanat is an underground channel connecting this subterranean source with the village, which in some cases may be as much as thirty miles away. p 53 

In Persia the whole of a man talks, not just his mouth. All of the body comes into play; words become of auxiliary importance, the mere vehicle of expression, their significance pointed with the subtlest shades of the speaker's movement; gaining immeasurably thereby in clarity and depth. p 67 

A Persian garden- ferdous, where stems our word paradise- are here: the high surrounding, walls, shutting out the rest of the world. p 202

*From a Persian Tea House, Michael Carroll, 2007, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, London

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