The pretty Iranians

 Iranian women are burning their hijabs and cutting their hair short in protests over the death of a young woman who died after being arrested by Iran's notorious "moral police," who enforce the country's conservative Islamic dress code. Not to mention the girl was extremely pretty. It's so sad a young life was lost. 

Years ago I saw a soccer match where the Iranian fans were seen cheering on the stands. Among them were a group of female Iranian spectators rooting for their country. It did not go unnoticed to me that how charming and pretty the Iranian girls were. As the match was being held in Australia, they did not have to cover their heads. 

Going by the typical male psych when we men look at a group of girls, our eyes tend to scan for a face which is pretty. Just opposite happened when I was looking into these couple of dozens or so Iranian girls. I was scouring all these outstanding faces to find at least one face which can stand out being NOT pretty. But my hope was soon belied as I didn't encounter any. Damn, every Iranian girl was beautiful, fair skinned and chiseled face.

Sorry, Indian ladies. Your Iranian counterparts will beat you by miles. It's not the proverbial Odia saying "GAAN KANIA SINGHANI NAAKI" or "Country girl, phlegm filled nose". Neither it's the Hindi version of "GHAR KI  MURGI DAL BARABAR" - "chicken cooked at home tastes like boiled lentil". Both mean the same, grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. But the beauty of these Iranian girls had to be visualized to be vindicated.

A few who had their heads covered were intermittently taking off their veils to cheer and whistle, mostly directed towards a handsome, strapping 6 feeter goalkeeper from their team who was conspicuously their blue eyed boy. 

Then suddenly an Iranian player scored a goal. The camera moved towards the flag waving section of the Iranian crowd. Out from the blue an Iranian girl took out her veil, started cheering and clapping, breaking into a rapturous delight. She reminded me of this stanza from a Kishore Kumar's song,

WOH ACHANAK A GAYEE

YOON NAZAR KE SAMNE,

JAISE NIKAL AYEE

GHATA SE CHAAND...

transliterated from Hindi.

"She suddenly arrives

 In front of my eyes;

 Bolstering my mood

 as moon ventures out of cloud".