India, March 8 -- All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal, so said John Steinbeck (1902-1968). He was a man of words as a novelist, short story writer and war correspondent who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature. When weapons fail, one turns to words, for, as they say, words are not just words, there are people behind them. And thus a letter from Iran to Ishitiaq Ahmed, Asian peacenik and chronicler of the blood-soaked Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, catches attention as it is shared on social media. Sweden-based Ahmed quotes an unnamed letter forwarded to him by a friend in Stockholm. Thus starts the poignant letter: "As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political, it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic's unelected institutions." The plight of the Iranians is further voiced: "Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore, because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse, because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war or foreign occupation." Describing the situation as one of being between the devil and the deep sea, the painful letter goes on to say: "So no, we don't trust the US or Israel. Not because we support our regime, but because we know how imperial powers treat liberated nations in the Middle East." The summing up by this anonymous writer is: A bad government is survivable. No government is not. Reading this predicament, an Indian writer living in the US remarks that this resistance comes from a country that still has the poetry of Rumi and Hafez in its soul. Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273), the much loved poet of Iran, was also a scholar and mystic whose poetry is much regarded in present times too for its message of love and togetherness. Widely translated into multiple languages, it was Rumi who said: "Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." He is loved in both the East and the West, for his poetry transcended the religious and cultural barriers. The 13th-century poet is not just a poet but seen as a bridge between the divine and the everyday world who said: "You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?" He was a poet who raised a question and then provided the answer. Pain for this 13th century poet was a part of human awakening. The Middle East was to see another poet who carried forward the chain of love and peace in the 14th century. He was Hafez Shirazi (1325-1390) who is famous for his Diwan, a collection of his poetry compiled after he passed away. The lover and the loved one frequent his poetry, as do wine and taverns, all related to religious ecstasy. Such are names that breathe in the Iran soil. It is pertinent to remember our poet of all poets, Guru Nanak, the first of the Sikh Gurus, who visited Iran in the 16th century. Travelling on foot through the Middle East with his friend Bhai Mardana, he spread the message of love and One God. He is still remembered in the Middle East as Nanak Peer. India and Iran share old ties, with the people of Iran also known as Zoroastrian, Parsi or Irani. Their migration to India and employment in Mughal courts was common, and most of them came from elite backgrounds. It was a mass migration. The 16th century saw a larger migration of those who faced persecution. During the 16th century, a larger population migrated due to persecution of the Iranians by Muslim invaders and opposition to the original population of these fire-worshippers. As the legend goes, a local king of Gujarat, Jadi Rana, placed a bowl of milk in front of the migrants.. The Zoroastrian priests mixed sugar in it to say that they would mix with the natives like sugar in milk. So it was and their contribution to the new land manifold and they shaped modern India and prominent names include JRD Tata, Homi Bhabha, Sam Manekshaw and of course Daisy Irani who was the much loved child star of the generation that includes this pen-pusher....