at the time Persia. The arabs held a book in one hand and a knife in the
other. It pretty much means, they forced Iranians to convert to Islam or
killed. At the time, the main religion was Zoroastrain. Many brave
Zoroastrains lost their life rejecting to be converted. Some of those who did
convert still practiced Zoroastrainism in secret. Some even fled the country,
as my forefathers did. They fled to Bombay, India. Well that's pretty much
the background to what lead up to our coming to America.
My dad was born and raised in Bombay, India. After living in India
all his life and completing his education, he left at the age of 30 in 1971 to
Iran. There was a deal that the Shah, king, of Iran was holding. He would
invite and Zoroastrain from India to come and stay in Iran for 2 years. After
the 2 years, you were to decide wether to continue living in Iran or to leave
back home. The Shah said he would take care of everything, all the paper
work for citizenship. So my dad went, and after the 2 years were up, he
decided to stay in Iran and get his complete citizenship.
In 1974, he married my mom in Iran. She had a child, who is my
oldest brother now. He was born in 1975. In the next about 2 years, the
Iranian Revolution was stirring up. In 1979 it hit Iran with full force.
Apparently the Shah didnt feel safe, so he fled from Iran. A little before the
Shah fled, my dad took a precaution and sent my oldest brother Arash to
India. After Arash was sent, my next brother was born, Piran. Since the
Shah fled, Iran was put under a new Islamic government. The government
made a law when they got power. That all Iranians were not to leave Iran.
Luckily Arash was sent before this law was active, but the rest of the family
was stuck in Iran.
Finally in 1982, a new law was passed that said any Iranian that
wasn't born in Iran and had to get their citizenship manually, was allow to
leave Iran for 3 months to see their family and was to come back after the 3
months were up. Well family in Iran took advantage of this, they left and
got to India. They lived there for 3 months and never returned to Iran after
that. But really, can you blame them?
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