Adventures of Mr.Behi

The Italians I Know...Part One: The Philosopher

It was September 2007 and with Mrs.Behi we were in our nine-day drive through Italy. A few days remaining to finish, we had already been to Milan, Sirmione, Verona, Venice, Florence and Pizza. That nice September afternoon, after hovering around some beautiful hill towns in Tuscany we headed towards Rome, the final destination of the trip. I was driving this little hatchback Ford that seemed a bit odd in character since a week earlier when we got it from Milan airport but yet moved us around nicely along. We were heading to Rome to give it back to the rental company the next day. The hills in Tuscany absorbed us so nicely with their spiraling narrow roads and medieval castles and farms and vineyards stretching all across the land and I guess I might have taken it too hard to the little car and it started gasping when we reached Volterra, high on top of a steep hill.
As we descended from Volterra and headed south, I realized that the oil alarm was blinking, not a sharp intentional blink that looked programmed but like a half burned lamp struggling to show some light but you couldn't tell if it was really on. We were on the belt road of Siena where I pulled over in a gas station and checked the oil. We had enough!
In a phone booth:
Me: Hi sir, I rented this car from you there and then and I am here now (on a Sunday) and the oil lamp is blinking
The car rental guy: Oh, yes sir I see that you are going to return the car tomorrow in Rome
Me: Yes!
The guy: So I say you carry on, you know this might be an electric malfunction of the lamp! It happened before!
Me: You sure?
The guy: Yeah all Right! enjoy your trip...

And we did...It was almost sunset and we moved away from Siena heading to Rome. Then after 10 Kms and luckily with with us on the slow lane of the highway close to a parking corner, the engine stopped and didn't breath again. We were living in Libya back then and my cell phone was not working in Europe. There we were, helpless!

With the blinking flashes and the red triangle installed plus me gesticulating by the road wearing the yellow night jacket, I could see many cars slowing down but speeding up again. A young guy stopped and I asked him to call the rental agent. He could not speak English that well but promised to do something in the next gas station. No sign afterward. We waited for another half hour and Mrs.Behi was already starting to convince herself that she would spend the night in the car! Many passed us with rush to catch their dinner plans...

The first Italian that we know was also going to dinner. He was driving a car as small as ours and swiftly pulled over and stopped when met him and his friend. They were heading to have Pizza in a nearby town. There in the chill of the night and under a remarkably beautiful night sky full of stars, we met Michele, a professor at university of Siena who was and I guess still is teaching philosophy and medieval art. We were so happy and thankful that they stopped yet he was negatively surprised that we waited as long as we did and no one stopped. "Don't mention it, I was also helped before similarly", he replied.
He was so kind to call the rental company to explain the situation and followed up to coordinate the towing car to drag us back to Siena. While waiting, we got to talking and realized that the city that we were about to miss and had no plan to visit, was a real attraction for itself and it would be a pity not to see it. Siena became the unplanned destination and a positive side of the car breakdown.
Michele was a special person. Expert in medieval art and philosophy, I felt that he had a corner of comfort for himself departed from the noise of modern days.

We followed the towing car riding with Michele and left him and his friend in Siena to give them a chance to have dinner while their original plan had already ruined. All that with a promise of having them for lunch in Siena the day after.

It was all but regretful. Siena had a wonderful atmosphere. We met Michele again after getting a new car from the rental company and toured the town with him. He showed us his book on the shelf of a bookshop. He was a critique of Kant philosophy and the book was about that, in Italian.
The best part of the tour was lunch. He suggested that we eat in a restaurant in Siena run by a family for generations. It was a very humble place below one of the arches in a corner where you wouldn't see it unless you knew it was there. It was named "Grattacielo", Skyscraper in Italian. The place was a very small but I bet the taste of the food could indeed rival many rotating restaurants. Tuscan home made food was one of the best we had in the trip and we owe this to Michele and his favorite skyscraper.

We left Siena all refreshed and very happy by the experince. Our trip to Italy was a well planned one yet the deviation from the plan was the part that is greatly remembered. Thanks Michele :)

And Change Prevailed

Last night as many put it, turned a new page of history in US and perhaps who knows in world politics. Me, keeping myself awake on our living room couch, watching data and analysis on CNN found myself delighted not only through high tech performance and glittering hologram show but also by watching the enthusiasm and joy shared by many in America (By the way, would someone please ask Wolf Plitzer of situation room not to tell us ten times per hour that his team is best political team on television?). 

It may seem incomparable but to me as an outsider, the atmosphere is so similar to the time when we in Iran elected reformist Khatami to office. Apart from the shear and obvious difference between these two elections in many aspects, I can see two major drivers that worked similarly to help change prevail. The young and first time voters and their enthusiasm was the major player in both elections who seek and admire change.  One can also say that the high turnout in both cases was a reflection of the disgust from the past. People in distress choking of terrible experience of past governments could embrace any strong hand tapping on their shoulders, opening the path for fresh air.

One thing I am hoping is that a rationale and structure of thoughts that we have seen from Obama could defeat the language of dogma that shadowed White house for eight years and resonated into the safe havens of all the other dogmatic power beholders, creating a cascade of hate that polluted our minds and still itches our senses. Maybe the first thing Obama should do is to release some emergency oxygen masks. After all, two engines are burning on war fire and the economy is plunging hard. By the way, seems that the previous pilot forgot to turn on the fasten seat belt sign!

Collecting Thoughts

I could not answer Mrs.Behi the other day when she asked what happened to me that my writings have become so random and infrequent that the blog is loosing its touch as being a real diary. To be honest, I have no idea! Despite the great volume of things going on in my head, the sense of belonging is still not there and by that I am not talking about place of residence. It seems that your mind sometimes needs to reside and get comfortable to produce thoughts or otherwise the footprints would result in a scrapbook of searching patterns. Or perhaps that scrapbook would be an interesting and intriguing thing to preserve and write about.

- It is been a while that I started following the works of a person who I can at least describe as a devoted man to logic. A one who is so soaked into science that can freshen the mind by his sequential way of thinking. I find listening to Richard Dawkins very thought provoking and fascinating. I am now busy reading two of his books "The God Delusion" and "The Ancestor's Tale" and I strongly recommend them. Regardless of the degree of religious belief that one may have, the beauty of the way natural selection and the story of life is presented in his works is by far more delightful than any other alternative supernatural interpretation of the world around us. Also recently found the audio of his interview at New Yorker festival that is a great listen for those who don't have time to read the books.

- I guess everyone is watching closely to see what happens in US election. We have seen many aspects of wired politics of American through the debates and appearances and some I will never forget. One very disturbing one was that in which a woman in a McCain rally grabbed a microphone and said "I don't trust Obama because he is an Arab" and it was so disturbing to see the GOP candidate to respond "No Mam, He is a decent man!". Imagine yourself an American with Arab heritage! This is utterly disgusting to see that being decent is considered by a presidential candidate as being not part of a minority group. Seems that America can never overcome the problem of making peace with minorities. The colour and language of these minorities change but the nature of the problem remains. I am sure the Japanese-American fellows had the same problem during WWII (?). On other side, Barack Obama talking on supporting main street against Wall Street. Till now, it looks nice...at least much better than the stupid Joe the Plumber argument (although it seems that plumbing is what America needs after 8 years of what Bush has been busy with...we may need Akbar the plumber next year when Ahmadinejad debates for his second term) yet I was surprised to hear Obama calling for gasoline sanction against Iran which will be the biggest slam to main street economy in the country and can hit the poor very bad when at the same time, he talks about talks with no pre-conditions! We should wait and see what happens in this election but I hope Obama wins as he appears (indeed) more decent compared to his rival.

- I finally got my iphone yesterday. It is really a piece of art like many other adorable Mac products. I am already in love with a crisp touch and the variety of applications. Typepad has a free blogging app for iphone so maybe this way I get convinced to move my lazy fingers and post more here.

- BTW, things have got very nasty in Congo and it is a shame to talk about fancy electronics and not think of people in crisis. Help these people by filling a cup! You can find the link on the left column. Cheers. Behi