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Austin, Texas,
The Second Home of Khayyam
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse -- and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness --
And Wilderness is Paradise now.
After graduating from college, I moved from the East Coast to Texas and worked for an oil company. I was able to use the owner’s (J.P is his nick name) ranch and entertain my family all the time. You’re probably imagining J.R from the show “Dallas,” and while J.P was not a small guy, I wouldn’t go that far.
This past April I was planning on attending the 20th anniversary party for J.P’s company during a trip back to Austin for my cousin Arash’s wedding. Arash’s brother has a successful little bar, simply called “Friends,” on 6th Street (the happening strip in Austin). Kamran, my other cousin who also lives there, is a musician and his multi-national band is called 1001 Nights. He’s the one who wrote and told me to come by the bar for a drink and head on over to the exhibition that was showing nearby.
The exhibit Kamran said we couldn’t miss was the the “The Persian Sensation: the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in the West,” at the Harry Ransom Center gallery at the University of Texas. It is one of the best exhibits of Omar Khayyam in recent history, and people from all over the world come to Austin, Texas of all places to see it.
Here, you’ll find the original manu scri pts of the Rubaiyat (in Arabic, the word means a quatrain or a 2-line stanza) and translations of it from 100 years ago! There are also artifacts with images of Omar on them, which explain how he became so known and influential, even in Europe and America. He was so popular at one point that nearly every family had a book of the Rubaiya next to their bible!
What makes this exhibit even more exceptional and multi-faceted than any other is the section next to the historical artifacts and books. This mini-exhibit is about how Khayyam is perceived in Iran. It was mainly put together by Kamran’s wife, Jill, who has filled the space with objects and photos from Iran and two short films she and Kamran made together during their last visit.
One film is a 15-minute documentary about what different people think about Khayyam. In addition to great scenes of nature, Masooleh, and of course Neishabur, there are shots of the streets, and interesting people talking about Khayyam. The film and the exhibit have been so popular that they’ve already gotten international media coverage.
I think it’s interesting to note that I was in Austin, Texas to see J.P., Arash, Kamran, and the art exhibit during the Bob Marley weekend. I learned that Girls Gone Wild has been filmed here many times. Overall, my impression of the city is that it’s a bigger version of Berkeley, a major university city, but instead of intellectuals, here they have funestas.
The people of Austin know how to party. But unlike the fraternity boys of most college towns, Austinians pride themselves on their capitol city being far from ordinary, which may explain why a noteworthy exhibit on one of Iran’s most prized Sufi poets, mathematicians and astronomers, is showcased in it’s center.
In fact, the people of Austin like to celebrate being “weird.” Austin is a hot spot for creativity and embraces its community of musicians, artists, entrepreneurs and progressive thinkers. The city is home to a singer named Willie, a cyclist named Lance. and a Longhorn steer named Bevo. It’s also known for being the Live Music Capitol of the World®, a title that Austinites take pretty seriously, with nearly 200 live music venues, the famous SXSW festival, and, of course, the trademark.
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