From the Bazaar to the Clinic and Back
A Memoir of an Isfahani Physician-Merchant
By: Haj Mirza Abdol Javad Okhovat (1889-1945)
Introduction and editor: Mehdy Naficy
This book is the memoir of a merchant from the Bazaar of Isfahan, Iran. He lived during the time of four Qajar Kings and 2 Pahlavi Shahs. He grew up as a child of a small Bazaari trader during the chaotic time of Ahmad Shah Qajar (1909-1924). It was a period of political and military intervention by the super powers Russia and Great Britain and of internal governmental chaos, political and social crisis and environmental and health catastrophes, namely famine shortage of food, and widespread diseases. As a young adult he describes vividly how the Russian troops arrived in Isfahan, how they behaved toward the natives, how the people in the city fought and survived the different famines and droughts and the shortage of commodities and food. He describes the hording of commodities by corrupt local governmental officials and the manipulation of the superpowers which worsend the economic and political conditions.
At the same time this book is a biography of a young traditional Bazaari, who grows up in a city, struggles with modernity and the introduction of western cultural traits and values, and attempts to join the modernization efforts by becoming a physician and working in a newly established hospital with modern western equipment.
In the last period of his life, he is confronted with the modernization efforts of Reza Shah who forced reforms from above. While he admires and supports the efforts of Reza Shah for securing transport routes and putting an end to the local thieves and suppressing the rebellious tribes, when it comes to the forced unveiling of women, he starts to oppose it. Gradually he turns back to his traditional role as a Bazaari and, thanks to the security of the roads and trade routes, he establishes himself as a successful import-export merchant and opens up his trading shops in the Bazaars of Shiraz, Tehran and Isfahan, while returning to the old traditional values of his family.
This book is about the long-term struggle between tradition and modernity, told through the biography of a merchant who becomes a modern physician in his adolescence and after a while goes back to his traditions and establishes himself as a great and successful merchant in Iran.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: Written by Mehdy Naficy
Writing journals and memoirs in Iran
Life and times of Mirza abdol Javad in Isfahan
The private life of Mirza abdol Javad according to his children:
First Period: In Isfahan: working in the Bazaar, becoming a physician
Second Period: In Shiraz: getting involved in trade and commerce
Third Period: In Tehran: Expansion of trade activities and network
Diaries of Mirza abdol Javad Okhovat:
About my education
Beginning of my work in my father’s shop in the Bazaar
Beginning of my cooperation with Shahzadeh Mirza Muhammad Hassan as druggist
About my religious beliefs and my Weltanschauung
On founding the “Islamic Hospital” and my work there
My trip to Mashhad
Riots in Isfahan
Despotism and the Constitutional Revolution
A short history of the Qajar dynasty
Establishing the first Department of Public Health in Isfahan
Dispute and challenges related to opening my physician’s office in Isfahan
On Shahzadeh’s deteriorating health and his death
My father’s trip to Mecca
On my job as a shopkeeper in the Bazaar
Some new disputes and conflicts related to my physician’s office
On becoming an orphan
On my voluntary work with the military
On moving to a new house in Isfahan
On obtaining my diploma as a physician and my cooperation with another physician
My forty-day trip to the city of Kashan
My return to Isfahan and reopening my office
A bad incident
Rumours surrounding the arrival of the Russians in Isfahan and the departure of the Germans and Mojahedins from Isfahan
Separating from Dr. Ali and establishing my own office
On the arrival of the Cossacks in Isfahan
Dr. Ali leaves Isfahan and goes to Tehran
On the occupation of Isfahan by Russian and British soldiers
On the city’s deteriorating conditions: high bread prices, drought, famine, hoarding and lack of safety
On establishing charity institutions to help the poor
The political conditions of Iran during these years
The case of an Iraqi immigrant
Our trouble with bread shortages, famine and the spread of infectious diseases
On the chaotic political situation in Isfahan and the inability of the government to rule
On the relative improvement of the bread shortage and other commodities
Once again shortage of food and the spread of typhoid
On the spread of cholera in Isfahan and the vicinity
An influenza epidemic
My brother Mirza Mahmmud’s trip to the city of Shoushtar
My intended plan to go to the Bakhtiari region
The end of my diaries
Attachment: How the son of Mirza abdol Javad, Ahmad, died? Written by his older brother Reza Okhovat
Bibliography
The picture album
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