Life, memories, Tehran

Shakeh

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These days I am thinking about Shakeh quite a lot. She is probably hidden in a suitcase somewhere in our basement in Iran. I wonder if she still has her eyeglasses or they are all broken?

I was four when my mom and my sister went for a two week vacation to Europe. I agonized for the whole time until they came back. One day, my sister called me in her room and gave me an adorable doll that they had bought for me from Naples. She had green eyes and orange hair, more like an Irish than an Italian, but well … what did I care. She also had eyeglasses. They had bought several ones in case we needed replacement.

“What should we call her?”, my sister asked.

At that age, I didn’t have that many names in my repertoire, so I was thinking hard when she added: ” How about Shakeh?”. I agreed without hesitation. My sister was the coolest person on earth for me and her choice was undoubtedly the best.

So, She became my favorite doll. Looking back, I realize that I took very good care of her, she still has her hair, her eyes, her arms and legs, and all her cloths. I only broke couple of her eyeglasses. I remember telling to my mom that they have to go back to Italy to get her new eyeglasses.

The memories that I have of Shakeh are scarce but very vivid. Once, for the occasion of my aunt’s visit from France, I had asked my grandma to knit her a new “ensemble”: a cute little blue skirt and a matching jacket. Of course I had chosen the yarn and the design. She was running late and I was pushing her to finish before my aunt’s arrival. She finished it on time, and as a bonus she had also knit a hat. I was in seventh heaven!

Then there are less cheerful memories. The radio was sending the “red” alarm, announcing the approach of Iraqi flights. That meant that the city was going to be bombed in any minute. Quickly I ran to my room on the second floor, lost in the dark looking for Shakeh. My sister was running after me telling me to go to the basement with them. I was refusing: “I have to find Shakeh, she can not stay alone”. She ended up helping me find her and take her with us to the basement.

When we moved out from my childhood house, we put her in a small suitcase along with all her cloths that my grandma knitted with utmost care. It is funny that I had never thought about her until very recently. I wonder how she is doing now?

P.S. In Summer of 2010 I found Shakeh when I went back to Iran. She has not changed except that she doesn’t have her eyeglasses. Here is her photo.