In Memory of Mr. Allahyari

I’ve been meaning to write this for almost a year but, unfortunately, haven’t been able to or forgotten to do it. However, this was too important for me to not write, so here it is:

In December of 2023, I was scrolling Instagram and I came to a sudden halt.

I saw the news that Mr. Allahyari, the deputy of my high school, Noshad, in Iran had passed away. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it. I still haven’t fully believed it. I always thought I’d feel sad when receiving such news. I just felt empty. Disbelief, as if I’m not living in a real world. But, even though my mind doesn’t want to believe it, it has sadly happened.

The reason I’m writing this, and have still remembered to write it a year after it happened, is that Mr. Allahyari played a pivotal role in my life at a critical time. He was the deputy at Noshad where I studied from 7th to 9th grade (13 to 15 years old).

At 13 years old, I was admittedly a spoiled brat. I was a nice kid who everyone liked, but I didn’t do anything productive for the society, or the people around me. I was entitled and believed others should serve me in some way.

I hadn’t really done anything. I had just sleepwalked through life. I had kept up good grades to get into that school, and was too proud of that, but really nothing else. I had no skills. I hadn’t really thought about any issues. I had no valuable opinions. I had no idea what to do with my life. I wasn’t even thinking about what I want to do with my life. I just assumed things will figure themself out automatically.

In 8th grade, Mr. Allahyari taught our creative writing class. Before that, I had had few small talk interactions with him and only heard him when he spoke to the entire school in the morning program. This class was the first time I would directly deal with him, and he with me.

In his writing class, he didn’t stop talking about reading. He encouraged us to start reading. He led by example. He always held a book, with a pencil inside it, and notes on the edges of the pages. In the beginning, I thought “boooooorrrriiiiiinnnnngggggggg. Who the hell wants to read a book??? Words written on paper?? Screw that!” But he kept repeating this message every class. One night at home, I was bored out of my mind and started to read The Count of Mount Cristo, which was gifted to me a few years bag and had been eating dirt on my shelf. 10 minutes in and I was hooked. I stayed up til the morning to finish reading it. I went back to school and told him all about it and he was really supportive. He asked me what I thought about different parts and what my main takeaways were. He then encouraged me to keep reading more.

I started reading more books and became a proper reader. I started with Rich Dad Poor Dad, then went on to read Start With Why by Simon Sinek. As I was reading these books, I would discuss the ideas I’d learned with Mr. Allahyari and he would always set aside a minute or two for those discussions between classes. One day, after one of these discussions, he told me I should talk about one of those ideas on the morning program, in front of the whole school. It was unnerving, but I couldn’t resist the challenging opportunity, so I did it. He told me I did well, and that I should do it in an upcoming event the school is holding with parents. It was a whole saga of stress and anxiety but I prepared well and delivered a great speech in the end. It was very challenging but it built the foundation of public speaking for me, and is the reason I’m a good presenter and public speaker today.

As I read more, and put myself in more challenging positions, I would tell Mr. Allahyari about them and he would give me his thoughts, and I was slowly developing a more complete personality. I thought about complex things. I had formed certain nuanced opinions. I cared about others.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. As the deputy, it was his job to enforce discipline in the students, and I was no exception. I got yelled at and scolded by him in front of the whole school quite a few times. But, he was right to yell at and scold at me in those circumstances. It made me a better person.

I started at Noshad a little curious spoiled boy who had no idea about anything. I left a young man with a developing character. Mr. Allahyari played the biggest part in that.

The last time I was at Noshad was to collect my report card for the last year with my mom. When exiting, I saw Mr. Allahyari at the door. I had grown so tall he reached up to hug me and give me a kiss on the cheek. He told me he was sure I would go on to do great things and wished me success.

It’s very hard to believe that he’s not with us anymore, and that I can’t call him to thank him for everything. But, I will make it a mission to live such that a small part of his gracious legacy lives through me, and I hope I can guide and inspire someone the way he guided and inspired me.