When the 1979 Iranian Revolution happened, gathering the family around one table became difficult. Everyone had become a supporter of a group, ideology, or party, and everyone argued that only their own ideology spoke the truth. Islamists considered communists impure; communists accused liberals of being compromisers. Each of these “-ists” was itself divided into several factions and tendencies.

These days, whenever the “Mara” within me — the army of darkness, doubt, and despair in the Buddha’s spiritual journeys — comes to visit, I consciously turn toward Bibi, Naneh, Khan Naneh, and Khajeh Naneh. All of them have imprinted the duality of my inner woman into my ancestral genes.