Tehran Odyssey

It was a good thing to land in Tehran during night hours - as the hour long drive from the airport to the hotel would demonstrate - the left hand drive vehicles and the highway provided a glimpse of things to come. Coming from India, it is an entirely different experience to move on the right side of a road divider, with a multitude of vehicles whizzing past you. The streets, though crowded, are fast here, what with vehicles of all sizes plying nonchalantly. Roads are broad and very clean, bearing testimony to the fact that Iranians are very particular about hygiene and sanitation. The weather seems to be on the extremes with temperatures reaching 40 degrees in summer and -10 degrees in winter. But with little humidity and very less dust on the roads, the weather, in essence, is fairly pleasant. No wonder, Iranians are mostly out of their homes, either celebrating by eating out or visiting friends or else by walking on the neatly arranged footpaths by the sides of the roads. I hear that there are a lot of spacious parks here where people go out mostly in the evenings just to hang out, relax or to let their children play.

One doesn’t take long to realize that the average Iranian is quite well off with eclectic tastes and polished mannerisms. He comes across as a warm convivial human being. The Iranian male is well dressed, more often than not in his denims/trousers and shirt or t-shirt, with the clergy and the elderly in the robe called ‘Aba’. Youngsters, though, are casually dressed and they also sport elaborate hairdos. Ladies are chic and stylish, always well dressed mostly in their denims and ‘Manto’- an outfit which is like an overcoat reaching just above the knees. They have their heads covered in colourful scarves. Iranian women are very fair, beautiful and elegant. A lot of them also work- in offices, libraries, boutiques, hotels, art galleries, as teachers and in homes as maids and baby-sitters.

If one is a connoisseur of non-vegetarian food, then Iran is the place for him. Mouth watering kebabs and sausages form part of the daily Iranian meal. Iranians mostly have their kebabs with rice (berenj). Those used to having curries and gravies, like Indians, are in for a shock here, for Iranians have their food dry - I have normally seen two roasted tomatoes and green salad adorning their favourite dish- kebab and berenj. The green salad is typically made up of green salad leaves with pieces of cucumber and tomato thrown in. Iranians love their salads. They also have a lot of burgers, pizzas and canned food. They are also fond of ice-creams, most of which are locally made and are delicious. Vegetarians are in for a tough time here as there is not much on offer in the restaurants, apart from rice, nun (breads and roti), cheese, baked beans and obviously, the green salad.

One round of the grocery shop would make one realize that apart from salad leaves, there aren’t too many green leafy vegetables to choose from. An Indian friend of mine told me that spinach (palak) is available in the market, but I am yet to come across any. Most of the vegetables – onions (big ones and come in two types), cauliflowers (huge ones), cabbage (one in the normal green colour and the other in pink), carrot, capsicum, brinjal, tomato, potato (big ones again), beans, cucumber etc. are readily available. Ginger is not readily available here. Iran abounds in fruits – the choicest of watermelons, gourds, grapes, peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, bananas etc. Dry fruits – kaju, pista, kishmish to name a few - adorn shops. One comes across very pure dairy products here. On the whole, food is nutritious and healthy, with very little or no spice, which might taste a bit bland to the Indians who love spicy food.

For a foreigner like me sauntering in the streets and alleys of Tehran, communication could be quite a problem as Iranians normally converse in chaste Farsi. It is then that the glossary of English terms translated into Farsi by my good friend in India comes handy; though it still can be a struggle, but one does learn to manage. This is not to mean that Iranians are not educated, as most of them are. The status of female education is pretty good.

Six days of stay so far hasn’t provided me with any time at all to travel around the country. I hear that there are lots of tourist places near Tehran like Isfahan (famous for ancient monuments and the sweet ‘Gaz’) and Hamedan (famous for an ancient cave and the tomb of Baba Tahir). Shemshak and Gajerah are the hill stations near Tehran which are favourite skiing spots for tourists during winter when it snows heavily. Shiraz (famous for the Persepolis and ancient palaces of Iranian kings) and Mashhad (famous for shrine of Imam Reza) are other tourist places a bit far away from Tehran. During my stay in Tehran, I would love to visit all these places.

A word of caution before I sign of. The Iranians are very rash drivers and people don't follow any traffic rules. In fact, I have hardly seen any traffic rules in place. The youngsters, in particular, create mayhem on the roads in their two wheelers. I have seen three people seated on a two-wheeler on numerous occasions. The riders mostly don't wear helmets. One needs to be really careful while driving on the roads.

In a nutshell, the brief stay so far in Tehran has made me realize that Iran is a friendly, yet progressive nation, boasting of an age old rich culture and heritage, taking rapid strides towards carving its own niche in the world comity of nations. Iranians are warm, genial, affable and sociable people. For a traveller visiting the Middle East, Tehran is a nice place to visit for a brief sojourn.