URMA awakens in December 1978 to the first snowfall of the season. She

speaks of her dread to AANI—she is afraid of what else can be taken from her on

this day each year. Seven years before, she lost her parents on the day of the first

snowfall. This year, with drums of revolution rolling through Tehran, she knows

her world will change again.

WANTING (2004 – Present)

Searching for a way back to the Iran of her youth, best-selling author Urma

walks through adult life incomplete, holding her breath. Orphaned at age 11 and

raised by her aunt—her aani—controlling, independent Urma wants the future she

was promised as a child in Iran, the future interrupted by the rise of Ayatollah

Khomeini.

Long-distance telephone calls to scattered classmates from her boarding

school days at Khoabgah helps patch her loneliness, yet she is obsessed with the

one man she cannot find—ORASH, the boy she had planned to marry back in

1979. Connecting with school chums SHEREEN, AANAHITA, and LADAN only

serves to remind her of what she does not have. She spends the days writing and

travels the world promoting her books. She holds her paramour, AATISH, at

arm’s length, insisting she likes her ordered life the way it is. Isolating herself, she

wallows in memory of betrayals perpetrated by the men she has known. After

Urma fled Iran on the heels of the Shah, Orash broke her heart, never to be heard

from again. No other man has proven worthy to take his place.

Urma awakens from a strange dream in which her boarding school

roommate Shereen held hands with Orash, walking in the snow past their old

shack in Chaloos, Iran. Nostalgic and disturbed, she is confused by imagery of her

best friend holding her ex-lover’s hand. At 44, she must reconcile the loss of the

country she loved and accept that times and people change. Stubbornly, she wants

the world to change to her vision.

In October, the four girlfriends holiday together in Rio. Happy greetings

dissolve into teasing Urma that she must find a man and stop obsessing about

Orash. Urma boldly makes a date with a man from the breakfast buffet, but

excuses herself later when the touch of his hand repulses her. The girls cheer her

up by remembering all her poor date choices—an exercise which leaves Urma

defensive. Too soon it is time to go home. They will meet again in Athens in

March for Nourooz, the Iranian New Year celebration.

Upon returning to Athens, Urma is invited to speak at Khoabgah’s

convocation. Excited by the opportunity to return home she calls Shereen, who

cautions the trip could be dangerous, and that you can never truly go home again.

Despite strict dress code and conduct rules in modern Iran, Urma looks forward to

seeing the mountain peaks covered in snow, smelling the air, the orange leaves,

and the snow. Arriving in Iran, Urma has the hotel’s driver take her around

Tehran. The boy bears a striking resemblance to Orash—could this be his son?

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She asks for his father’s name, and learns he is not Orash’s son; she plunges

deeper in thought. Orash had to have married since they parted, begun a family…

If she had married Orash in the winter of 1979, she would have a son that age.

On the drive to Chaloos she is reminded of her first date with Orash, a drive

in the Albors Mountains where they held hands and kissed at a beautiful overlook.

Thrilled to return to Chaloos, Urma is disheartened at the changes in the home of

her youth. Buildings are run down, not as large as she remembers. Ghosts of days

long past shadow her. Khoabgah has aged, changed, yet the auditorium stirs more

memories. After lunch, lonely, she calls Shereen. “It was that college life, it is that

age, and I miss that time. No matter how much I want to hold on to the past, the

fact is, it’s ages since we were here. I hate to be here alone. I want all of you here

—I love Chaloos, but not alone. Can it ever happen?” Shereen coos to her that yes,

they will all go to Iran together someday, to pull herself together. Urma goes for a

walk in the snow, and ends up outside the shack she shared with Orash. Her past

rises to haunt her in the form of Orash himself.

Stunned and tearful with joy, Urma can only hug him close and kiss his

face. Now a successful cardiac surgeon in New York, he has been vacationing at

their shack, which he still owns, and he too has been yearning to reconnect with

Urma. He never married. They chat and catch up. Orash begs her to stay longer in

Iran. As though the past twenty-five years never intervened, they make love. Her

body sings with his touch—this is right. He asks her to marry him but she refuses;

she would rather stay lovers and keep the spark alive than marry and watch it die.

She concedes it might be possible but will require thought and one of them

moving, not something to be hasty about. She must leave. On her way to the

airport, Urma ponders why the subject of their breakup hadn’t surfaced, his

reasons for dumping her—and she becomes angry again. Once she arrives home

she argues over the phone about him dumping her that he vehemently rejects.

UNREQUITTED (1978-1986)

Summer 1978: As the uprising against the shah of Iran heats, 18-year-old

Urma and her friends carry on with normal life, oblivious to the political trouble.

In November, the school is closed for safety, and Urma returns to Tehran. One

January evening in 1979, Urma’s quiet world with Aani is shattered when Aani

tells her of the shah and queen fleeing the country and tells Urma the truth about

the revolution and that they must leave the country now or they may never be able

to. Perhaps they can come back, perhaps not. They will move to Paris, near their

cousin.

Urma is blissfully in love with Orash, awaiting the day Aani gives her

blessing to the union. They’ve cohabitated in their shack in Chaloos for the past

two years. Orash says he cannot follow her to Paris immediately; he must stay in

Iran to complete his studies. Aani would never give her blessing—he has not made

his entrance exam for medical school this year and will have to wait another year.

He tells her to find another and be happy. Promises to call and to write are made,

and they make love, desperate.

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Urma and Aani leave for Paris, in the snow. All aboard hold their breaths

and pray until the plane leaves Iranian airspace. Urma holds onto the thought she

will return and be with Orash again. Paris is wonderful. She learns the language,

makes a few acquaintances but no friends. She leaves messages for Orash but he

does not answer. By the time he returns her calls three months later it’s too late—

she’s closed her heart to him. He must sit his exams still; he is not ready to marry.

She says fine, then—never!

Aani tells her stop pining, to move on. Newly single, Urma adjusts to life in

Europe. She completes college in four years and begins a career in journalism only

to have that derailed when Aani sets up Urma with a fellow Iranian refugee,

MASOOD, who resides part time in California. Urma is forced to keep company

with him at social gatherings. Soon she receives a surprise—a phone call from

Shereen! Shereen found Urma through her neighbor in California, Masood. They

catch up, ask about other friends—no news. Urma says it’s over with Orash;

Shereen advises against marrying Masood if she isn’t in love, but Urma goes

through with the wedding to make Aani happy.

She regrets the move within months; Masood has no sense of humor.

Shereen advises her to make the first move toward a smooth marriage. Miserable

in her new role, Urma accepts flirtation from Aatish, a persistent young buck who

reminds Urma she is desirable. She agrees to meet for coffee, then dinner, then a

hot kiss goodnight. Shereen counsels Urma to give the boy up and stop her

nonsense. Urma whines that Masood hasn’t touched her sexually in a year and

even then it was awful. She has needs. Urma cries and declares she hates all men.

She wants to be rid of Masood. Shereen reminds her of her duty and Urma breaks

contact with Aatish—resigned to misery in marriage with a cold, disrespectful,

verbally abusive man. To escape, Urma spends time with Aani.

One winter’s day Aani passes away, quite suddenly. Masood makes the

necessary arrangements for a proper Muslim burial. The shock drives Urma to bed

on tranquilizers. Her last living relation, Aani, is dead. What will she live for now?

A black hole closes in around her. Urma dwells on her theory that bad things

happen when it snows. She immerses herself in writing. Months pass. Her

marriage is cold. A letter in Masood’s trouser pocket from a girl at work is all the

ammunition Urma needs to scream for divorce—despite his protests that the girl is

married and not a threat.

INDEPENDENCE (1988 – 2005)

Rid of the albatross of Masood, Urma accepts a job with an English-

language fashion magazine based in Athens, resuming her writing career. Urma

enjoys her new independence and shuns men. During her first year, on evenings

and weekends, she constructs her first novel. She researches publishers and

queries around the world. She takes her rejection letters on the chin and keeps

submitting. Eventually her novel sells to a publisher in England, and within five

years Urma pens her first best-seller. Aanahita finds her through her publisher and

calls, forwarding Ladan’s contact information as well. The four friends are

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reunited at last! But while wealthy, successful, and famous, Urma remains solitary.

Her friends marry, have children, grow careers of their own, and Urma sees time

slipping away from her. She wants what she cannot have—her youth, Orash, and

the happy married life she pictured as a young girl in Iran.

At a book signing in the year 2000, Aatish resurfaces, a fan of her career.

Urma accepts his worship on the condition he does not expect her to return his

affection. Her heart is done reaching out to men. He says only allow me to love

you and I will do as you say. He woos her with flowers and comfortable company.

At five months, Urma realizes they have not been lovers and she has never been to

his place. They make love. Many casual months pass this way, and then Aatish

utters the fateful “Let’s get married.” Urma again asserts her no, but they remain

friendly; Aatish accepts what she’ll give. For four years she tells herself this is an

acceptable arrangement. And she remains unfulfilled.

March 2005: Gathering her girlfriends near for a traditional celebration of

Nourooz, Urma revels in the presence of her friends, their families, and the food

and other traditions from her childhood. Shereen insists on talking with Orash and

when Orash speaks to Urma, he tells of the real reason of why he couldn’t come to

Paris. It was because he was jailed and his father was executed back in Tehran.

Urma is frozen with this revelation and is filled with remorse but has to take care

of her guests and not get sunk in the world of Orash till her friends were around.

So, she focuses on them and the talk turns to advice for Urma to let her grudge go

and accept Orash for who he is now. The friends put on music and dance until

they’re tired. Urma takes a moment to breathe on the balcony, and feels the spring

snow fall. Listening to her friends laugh in the other room, Urma realizes her need

for a return to Khoabgah days, the feelings of “home,” is wherever she is—that

she can recreate it wherever she needs to. Urma forgives Orash, letting go her wish

for what was to accept what is. The bands constricting her heart loosen. She has

decided.

Just then Orash arrives at the party—Shereen had invited him. Urma’s

dreams of Shereen walking hand in hand with Orash in the snow was a prediction

of her friend leading him back to her, and she now feels that snow heralds good

things. She is in love with Orash. Urma welcomes him at last, into her home and

into her heart.

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