Dear Atria,

Yesterday we went to the Jewles Museum, the National Treasury which is kept under the central branch of Bank Melli in a massive walk-in safe.

It was fascinating, most of the objects were priceless and one of a kind. There were all kinds of object used by kings, some of which was gifted to them by other people and other countries, all from gold and/or decorated with jewels, rubies, diamonds and other precious stones.

These are only part of our treasures which have not been stolen, in fact one of the priceless stones there is a diamond called Daryaye Noor, which was taken from Iran together with its pair Kohe Noor. These stones found their way to India, but many years later Nader Shah and his army got them back.

After Nader Shah was killed, Kohe Noor was again stolen and found its way to England, where it resides to date.

The legand has it that these two diamonds were decorating the crown of Cyrus the Great, the founder of Hakhamaneshi and the Persian Empire. The also exists another legend that Rostam, the Iranian mythical fighter in the stories of Shahnameh, brought this back to Iran after he conquered Tooran.

Sometimes I wonder why us humans have developed a sense of value for a piece of metal or stone, not because we like the look of it or because it heals us or perhaps because it gives us special powers, but just because it happens to be rare! Surely this can't be a natural instinct, otherwise animals should all have been digging for gold and diamonds. There are stories of birds steeling small items, but in my view it is the reflection of light that attracts them as they also said to have taken worthless shiny items.

Another question to add to the Mysteries of Universe.

Dear Atria,

I am in Iran, hence the silence.

Yesterday we went to Tochal and went up the mountain with the TeleCabin. The views were beautiful and when we got to the last stop where the ski pistes are, we could hardly keep our eyes open.  Nothing serious, just the glare of light off the white snow was so intense that was difficult to keep the eyes open.

The 7th and last stop is where the Tochal Ski Resorts are, it is over 3700 meters high and the change in pressure can be unbearable for some. In fact, when we got off the attendent warned your baba, Grandfather or "Pedar Jan" as you named him.  The TeleCabin operator suggested that he stay no longer  than a few minutes.
Well, he didnt know that baba for a while used to go to mountain every week and is not a stranger to high altitude. In fact baba was telling me that he has walked all the way up the mountain to Tochal which was a little further up and is 3,960 meters high.

Surrounded by the snow I saw Baba standing on the top of the mountain, surrounded by snow, with an expression on his face which I thought it to be an indecisive between hapiness and sadness.
He had remembered the time when he came there with you. His face bloomed and tears of happiness was unmissable when he started telling me that when he put his hand in his pocket, he realised that you have been hiding snow in his  pocket.

Your Grandfather (Pedar Jan) is 86 years old and your Grandmother (Madar Jan) is fighting against cancer and is not well. There will be regrets in everyone lives, but the ones which we were able to avoid but decided not to, are the hardest to deal with.
I thought you may wish to contact your grandparents, perhaps simply acknowledging their love and devotion to you by sending them your picture.

The decision is yours, be sure not to allow the enviroment and the circumstances influence your decision. Sometimes one has to consult their heart as well as or on occasions instead of their mind in order to make the correct decision.

Once again contact details of your grandparents for you:

Tel: 009821 86034898

Email: shshenassa@gmail.com

Address: Larestan Avenue, Eftekhar Street, Number 19, 4th Floor, Flat 7, Tehran, Iran

Madar Jan is also on Facebook as Mehry Shenassa and on Skype as m_shenassa

You can also contact them via this website in the 'Contact me' section - I will pass your message on to your grandparents.