The gift of life

That is what Dr Mehraban Shahrvini made of his life as notes a short Farsi biography painstakingly translated into English for Parsiana by Sohrab Dahmu­bed of the Iranian Zoroastrian Anjuman. A physician and an editor, Shahrvini’s love for his people and the Zoroastrian culture prompted him to contribute to many a journal in Iran before migrating to Canada where he founded and published the bilingual Payk-e-Meher.

Son of the learned priest, Mobed Shah­bahram, Mehraban was born in Yazd where he completed his schooling before joining the Phirouz Behram College and Alborz College in Tehran. Then, after an unsatisfactory stint elsewhere, he appeared for the entrance exam at the Medical College of Tehran University, standing 40th among 4,690 applicants. He graduated in medicine from there in 1954 and completed his MS thereafter.

Mehraban Shahrvini: celebrating the heritage

Working for the Point 4 Truman program affiliated to the health ministry, he was posted as one of its directors in Mazandaran, charged with the mission to free the region from malaria. Thereafter he was deputed to Dashete Gorgon until 1958, returning to Tehran University as deputy professor of neurology. As dean of the Ebne Sinha Hospital in west Tehran he instituted a family planning center, adjudged one of the best in the city. Later he opened two private clinics in association with other doctors which continued to function until he retired from the profession in 1981.

Honors, awards and letters of appreciation came Shahrvini’s way. He volunteered his services with the Red Cross; during summer vacations he provided professional care to people in the districts outside the capital. Deeply interested in cultural and social activities he joined the Iranian Youth Organization and worked on the editorial committee of Andishahe Ma. So well received was his article on a terrorist of the time – Master Khodabakhsh — that Dr Ardeshir Jahanian, editor of Hukht sought him out. But the Andishahe Ma was banned.

By 1958 Shahrvini was on the editorial staff of Hukht, then managed by Jahanian and Dr Rostam Sarfeh, and continued with it for 21 years. He also found time to contribute to Tandorost and Sepahan magazines, notes the write-up. By 1978 he was a member of the Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman and the Rotary Club of Tehran. His medical pursuit led to 10 years’ honorary service with the Yeganegi clinic, taught at nursing schools and published a book on diet control which remained a standard text in nursing schools until the revolution.

Married to Simin Sassani in 1961, the couple have three children – Mahyar, Mahtab and Khashayar — and six grandchildren. A much traveled man, Shahrvini joined the Zoroastrian Society of British Columbia (ZSBC) when he migrated to Canada and chose to settle in Vancouver and served for four years as deputy to Mehraban Zartoshty who was the main trustee of the Arbab Rostam Guiv Trust in that city. With the blessings of the late Jamshed Pavri, then secretary of the ZSBC, Shahrvini started contributing Farsi pages in the association’s newsletter till 1986 when he received the permission to publish Payk-e-Meher.

The magazine continues to be published with editorial assistance from Meher Afzoon Firuza of San Francisco, Dr Khusro Mehrfar in Paris and Dr Ardeshir Khorshidian in Iran. ZSBC had held a special celebration on its 12th anniversary. Now 80 years old, and despite health problems, Shahrvini can look back on 100 lectures well received and 400 articles published together with a book on the heritage and civilization of Iran, celebrating this cradle of history.