Thursdays, for many reasons, were always my favorite day of the week at Mehran School. Firstly, it was a half-day school day and we would get off at noon. Secondly, due to being a half day, teachers rarely scheduled an exam on Thursdays. Thirdly, sometimes, the school would show a movie in the assembly hall an hour before dismissal. The assembly hall was on the fourth floor of the building and was quite large. It had a stage too where many plays and musicals were performed by students over the years. The room also served as an examination hall on a regular basis, particularly for upperclassmen. But, its most favorite usage for me personally was during the periods when a movie was shown, as a perfect ending to a busy week of learning. If I recall correctly, the movie days were always a surprise and they would not let us know in advance. I suppose it was kind of like a pop-quiz with the difference that instead of instilling worry and fear in our hearts, it would instill joy, excitement and relief. I can still feel the exuberance and the commotion in the hall when students were competing for the best seats and the apprehension and guess-work to find out what movie was selected.
To this day, I remember an animated movie we watched called, “Zendegi” or life, which had the most beautiful animation and story line about the life of a beautiful plant and all the hardships it had to endure during the course of its life. Apart from the outstanding visual aspect of this movie, the accompanying music was out of this world. I may have been ten or eleven at the time, but this music so touched my soul that for years I was looking for its soundtrack to no avail. That was the first time I actually felt the power of the traditional musical instruments of Iran: ‘santur’, ‘taar’ and ‘ney’. Nevertheless, it was a divine piece of work which I would have liked to watch again as an adult.
And lastly, one of my favorite shows was broadcast on Thursdays at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Thus, that provided us with enough time to get home, wash up, grab a lunch plate from mom and sit at the family-room table to watch the “Land of Wonders”, “Sarzamin Ajayeb”. This show was about a group of astronauts who had the misfortune of landing their spaceship on a planet inhabited by giants. Even after all these years, I still like Thursdays and get a warm feeling when Thursday afternoon rolls around.
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