The Persian Way to Pay-it-foward

As the world gets more global and local cultures begin to lose firm footing, Smita Kothari muses on taarof, a Persian modesty engraved in the everyday lives of Iranians around the world, sometimes even to their disadvantage.

When Homa Rastegar moved to Munich, Germany, her taxi driver from the airport happened to be a fellow Iranian. At the end of the ride, she offered to pay but the driver refused to accept the fare saying he cannot charge her as she belonged to his country and she’d just arrived in a new city. Even if Rastegar had moved to Tehran, Iran, she would have most certainly encountered a similar episode. However, if Rastegar was aware of her culture’s particular aspect at play here, she would have recognised that the taxi-driver was merely practising taarof.

Taarof is the Iranian culture of extending over-the top courtesies in both personal and commercial contexts. Hosts being hospitable towards the guests, offering the other person to go through the door first, and insisting on paying the restaurant bill are some instances of taarof on the personal front. Such examples may be found in varying degrees in other cultures around the world. On the other hand, a shopkeeper refusing to accept payment even for expensive goods and service-providers (like our cab-driver above) denying their fee, are some illustrations of taarof in professional scenarios.