The Beast in the Belly

Resumo

When I was four years old, a kidney infection led to other, more serious problems, which could not be successfully taken care of by the surgeons operating on me repeatedly. This was happening in Abadan, the city where I was born, in the southwest corner of Iran, on the border with Iraq. A city mostly known not for what it was originally, but because of the gigantic oil refinery built by the British Petroleum, and its accompanying company town, to which, in later years, a petrochemical plant was also added to ensure an impeccable air quality that only the British industry could provide. There were times that the British prohibited the Iranian locals from entering certain parts of town, protected by Indian troops and British officers.