More than three decades after Mohammad Reza Shah Phalavi's death and despite relentless official demonization of the former monarch, the younger generations of Iranians have a soft spot for the man whom their parents brought down. Last Thursday, the anniversary of the Shah's death, I spent some time talking to the residents of Tehran about him....And yet many Iranians born during the late 1970s and 1980s have kind words to say about him. Leila, a 32-year-old teacher and mother of two who lives in central Tehran, tells me, "I think people, particularly our parents, were very unfair to Shah. He was not a bad man at all." I tell her about the SAVAK and all the political prisoners. "Even worse!" she says, "Look at these guys who rule the country now -- compared to them he was a saint!"... Leila might be right; Tehran cabdrivers often refer to Shah as "Oon khoda beyamorz," which literally means "He, who God may rest in peace." I tell one driver -- 20-something Hossein -- who is taking me to Azadi Square, once known as Shahyad or "Shah's memory," that it is the anniversary of the Shah's death. "God rest his soul in peace, these people did not deserve him," he says. I ask why he thinks so. Hossein, the rear of whose car bears a large religious sign, replies, "Those days people were free. My dad bought a Paykan for 24,000 tomans. Those days, Iranians could go anywhere in the world. There was no inflation. He treated them decently." He shakes his head mournfully. "Now look at people lining up for a piece of chicken."