نوروز مبارک

Today, while celebrating Nowruz in Oman, I’m finding myself flooded with memories of my trip to Afghanistan during the festive Persian New Year season. When my driver and I pulled into the city of Mazar-i Sharif, I noticed the legendary turquoise shrine in the distance decorated with festive holiday lights for Nowruz. Since it had taken us hours to reach the city (through numerous checkpoints and countless machine guns shoved in our faces), my driver and I were frustrated to find ourselves stuck at a checkpoint in an endless traffic jam that just wouldn’t budge. Peering out the window with eyes half-open (exhausted from our long journey), I noticed some faces and poetic Persian verses etched into the wall on the side of the road.

Anxious to stretch my legs, I stepped out of the car to get a closer look. To my delight and surprise, I found that one of the visages on the wall belonged to the beloved Sufi poet Rumi. If we hadn’t been stopped at that checkpoint, I never would have noticed it (Mevlana, the perfect guide to greet us and usher us into the city!). I later learned that the traffic was backed up for miles because the Afghan police had uncovered a plot to blow up the shrine for Nowruz (every car had to be checked). Unfortunately, even today, this widely-celebrated spring festival remains in jeopardy in Afghanistan. So today I’m thinking of all my friends celebrating Nowruz in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and beyond — and wishing them all a peaceful and blessed holiday (with many more to come)!