Days 3 to 7

So arrived day three, in the same old and pleasing manner – breakfast with beauty all around.

I would like to relate an incident that followed so as to give you an idea of how restriction free the Iranian society is.  During breakfast, we noticed a girl (I will not use any adjective/s here to describe her because we noticed her amongst so many other beautiful girls, you can imagine what I am trying to say – so, I will leave the choice of adjective/s to you). She finished off with her breakfast before us and left. After we were done, we went to the lobby where we saw her chatting at the reception. We stood outside the hotel door as my friend wanted to smoke. While my friend was smoking and talking, we noticed her again (yes again, she was something to notice ;)) in the lobby hanging around.  My friend lit another cigarette, so I told him I would go back to the room and get ready. I went towards the elevator and this girl also got into the same elevator. To my surprise, she smiled at me and asked “Tu Irani hasti?”, to which I replied that I am a Hendi (Indian). Anyway, my point here is that women in Iran are not at all restricted. On the contrary, they enjoy a lot more freedom and are far more open minded than what we assume about an Islamic State.

 As the days passed by, I noticed that that everywhere I saw a lot of Zoroastrian symbols or figurines like the Asho Farohar (non Parsis will recall the winged man) and many more as such. The picture below is the reception part of the hotel; where we were stayed and this is how it looked. Others are the pictures of the hotel lobby.   

The Reception of the Hotel

The Lobby Decoration

Lobby again

And when questioned about it, they would say this is the national symbol of Iran (without the religious connection/significance).

So off to work on day three. The best thing was every day there were different drivers and they would take us to the exhibition grounds via different routes and we never complained as all routes had beautiful view all around. What I noticed is that, for an Islamic country, there were very few mosques, I must have seen hardly 3 – 4 mosques in a week as compared to other Islamic countries, where you get to see a mosque at every kilometre’s stretch or less.  Below are pictures as they are Shia mosques and their design is different from Sunnis.

Mosque on the hi Way

A Mosque at the Expo

On careful questioning, I was shocked to know that some of the youth did not practice Islam. And they admitted it openly. They said their parents practiced Islam as their ancestors were converted forcefully, but the youth neither practiced nor followed Islam. Some of the comments were a shocker. Most of them said that they wrote Islam so as to get government jobs. Period. No further comments.

Day three at work was even more crowded and I met a lot of interesting people; some of them on learning that I was from India would relate their experiences of their visit to India and how much they wanted to visit the South India or the Taj Mahal etc etc. Iranians are very serious business persons, however they are always ready for a smile or a quick joke.

During one of the conversations, I asked about the property rates and general market and was shocked to know that at least in Tehran the rates of the properties were very high. And I commented almost immediately, that, this means there is a lot of money and people are generally very rich. One of them commented, “You are very fast.” To which I replied, “Well!! The US has created a totally inverse publicity of your country to the outside world.  We are under the impression that there is a lot of suffering and poverty in Iran, due to US sanctions, and what I get to see here is a totally different picture –  a 200 year old country is not successful in bullying a 9000 year old civilisation. I see all kinds of vehicles being imported or manufactured here – right from cars and bikes to public transports. Right from Mercedes, BMWs, Peugeots and Samands to Volvos (Peugeots and Samands are manufactured in Iran). You have your own credit cards (no Visa or Master), you have built a complete world of your own. It’s not you who is suffering due to sanctions. On the contrary, it’s the US who is losing a developing and a potentially huge market. So I wonder who the real loser is.” This got them all staring at me and I wanted to hide ;). However, I went on to tell them you guys are lucky as you are not dumped with bad exports like the MacDs and the KFCs. ;).

And day three went by with a lot of interesting discussions with a lot of potential clients.

Business was looking very encouraging with so many potential clients making very serious inquiries.

As soon as the evening arrived, we were back to the office for more discussions, that done and out came a scotch. After doing justice to the bottle ;), our host took us to a FANTASTIC garden called Jamshidiye.

On our way there, we were listening to Persian songs and enjoying ourselves as the music was good – Persian rap and rock etc. While our host was forwarding and skipping to the next song, I heard a very familiar tune, it was of the guitar being played at the beginning of the song EK DIN sung by Javed Ali for the movie – Naqaab (2007). I asked the host to rewind the song and replay it. It was the Persian version and OMG!! While the playback was running in Persian, the two hosts and us two Indians were singing at the top of our voices; in Persian and in Hindi, respectively. Even without knowing the language, we knew the lyrics were the same.

We soon reached our destination. Jamshidiye garden. The stone garden's main waterfall and pond are central to the garden's design, the walk paths accommodate a network of small and narrow channels that bring water from the pond to the lower areas of the park, creating smaller water features. There are numerous restaurants, traditional teahouses (houses of culture which represent the diversity of Iran's ethnic and tribal heritage), picnic areas, and hiking trails from the lower area of the park all the way up to the top of the mountain. There is also a classically designed open air amphitheatre. For instance, if we are where Ishfahan is on the map of Iran then, the restaurants would have the Ishfahani design/culture on the show and the food served would be authentic Ishfahani. As we walked around, there was Kordestan and Shiraz , and we settled for Azarbayjan as one of the host was from that province and I refused to climb another 600 steps to the next province. Enjoy the pictures below.

 And if you really want to see it try this link : http://www.360cities.net/image/jamshidieh-stone-garden#0.00,0.00,70.0 From here you will also be able to navigate to palaces in Iran.

The main Lake in Jamshidye

Rocks and plants lite up at night

The Food !!! People Don't miss the size of the 100% meat Kofta

Chai Set with Picture of Nadir Shah

The Azarbayjan Restaurant. Sheeha chai and friends

  

This is the enclosed section of the same restaurant

The Hand Woven Persian Carpet in making

Here I would like to relate one more instance of how friendly Iranians are. We were at the Azarbayjan restaurant and the gentleman standing in this picture was serving us. After he was done with serving, he stood at one side. Our hosts started conversation with him as if they were old friends. They were talking, chatting and laughing throughout the meal.  We Indians are friendly as well, however I have never seen this kind of a comediari with strangers.

 It was a memorable evening which I am sure you all can see as well, as captured in the pictures. 

Hey! I must tell you all this. At the lake in the picture above I saw live : a Persian cat ( furry tail and all) catching a fish that came to the edge.

On our way back, we were taken to other parts of the city. As we passed a Palace, the host said this is the palace of the last King. I said you mean Golestan Palace.  And one again he is surprised about my knowledge of the local places. I explained that as our ancestors are from the region our parents have told us stories and myths related to the country and naturally if Iran was mentioned in the news it would hold our interest.  At one point we waited at the side of the road; when we saw some girls crossing the road and coming towards us; they were the same women we had come across at the signal on the first day. After a brief  conversation – in Persian, of course, they left.

Once back to the hotel, we crashed.

Day four at breakfast and back to the Expo. The day was very busy with an even bigger crowd.

As the busy day ended, we returned to the office, took stock for the day and relaxed.  Later we went to a private Party. 

Next day it was Wednesday and we were to visit the site of our potential clients, which was about 250 kms away from Tehran. So we left early. The drive was very pleasant and the roads were really good with less traffic. I have posted pictures of the journey below. At the site, we met our potential client. Here again, out of four engineers three were women. There was a 2 hour long in dept and intelligent discussion on our solutions for their needs. On our way back, we passed fields of yeast farms – green and long grass!!

The mountain ranges

The Yeast farms

Once back, we unwound from the long drive and got down to work. Later towards the evening, I  realised that since I had some time on hand, I could very well catch up with some couch surfers. I called and one of them was willing to come.  I explained that even if she was nearby I would not be able to get there as I would not be able to guide the cabbie So she agreed to come to the office and I met her below the building. I see this beautiful young lady walk towards me from a distance and I see her smile without any hesitation. I checked around me and I realised I was the lucky one being smiled at.   We introduced ourselves again as we were meeting in person for the 1^st time. My host had given me directions to the nearest coffee shop. So we went there, unfortunately it was closed, so I asked her if she was aware of any alternate coffee shops close by. Finally I called my host who tried to guide me on the phone. So I gave the phone to my friend, they spoke and finally she told me, that my host is would be down  and like a typical helpful Iranian man (her words) will drop us at the place. He came down to where we were and realised that he had forgotten where he had parked his car, and we three started walking in a direction where he thought he had parked the car. In this walk cum search of 7 minutes, these two Iranis were talking away about what – I got no idea; however, it was a non-stop chatter between the two even though they had just met. Finally we were at the coffee shop, and had an interesting conversation about each other’s countries and cultures, she was very vocal about her beliefs and how she wanted to travel the world see places. I asked her about the freedom women enjoyed in Iran compared to other Islamic countries, ans she painted a slightly different view from what I had gathered like a woman can’t leave her parents home unless she is married (can’t live alone) and such other restrictions.  Unfortunately once again I am the one on limited time so we leave the coffee house and walk a little discussing Bollywood and Hollywood and I put her in a taxi and bid Khoda Hafeez. Interestingly, this young lady attends a weekly yoga class.

That evening we went to a very colourful and lit up area. And the sites were beautiful. Most of these restaurants were open air and had water flowing through them. There the sit outs were under the trees and the flooring was natural rocks or whatever there was in that area. The area was crowded even as per our standards. And it was pretty good to notice groups of young girls and guys or only guys or only girls – all friendly and smiling away to glory. We asked the host why had he not thought of getting us here on the first night itself and he joked that if he had done so, the two of us would have been lost there and never reached the exhibition at all ;) .

Lights, color  and life 

FFOOOODDD 

One of the versions of bread 

and FRIENDS

Talking about the culture, something I noticed is that young girls, even in their early twenties, did not seem to mind the age difference and partied with us. And not 1 but 3 young girls publicly announced on different days that they would like to marry me (as I was the only bachelor in the group). And I would run for cover. ;). It was all great fun.

  

Finally, arrived Thursday. It was my last day in Iran. And I met with another Couch Surfer, who like the rest of Iranians I had met was sweet enough to come to where I was and take me to a Zorastrian Fire Temple. In Iran, everyone can go in the fire temple unlike India where only Parsis (Zoroastrians) are allowed. Below are the picture of the Fire Temple and the church which we visited. The church was exactly opposite to the temple. The Alter Layout was somewhat different then what we have here. Unfortunately they did not let me take pictures inside.

The Fire Temple which is in a compound behind high walls

A School Next to the Fire Temple

Inside the Fire Temple

A plaque inside the Fire Temple

Priest Praying,

The church 

A closer View

The Statue of the founder of the Church

Further, she took me to a Glass museum which showcased amazing glass work made over the centuries and dynasties. It was a hurried visit and she bought me a gift from there. 

Must Be the World cup of that Era :)

The Lobby Inside

Can you imagine!! these are glass coins of  a dynasty

Then over a cup of chai and slice of cake we spoke (not that we had paused talking at any point of time) about her interests and her information about the Zarthust (as they call it) religion and her visit and experience at the Chak Chak mountains in Yazd where inside a cave burns a 5000 year old fire.   After this, we went for a very hurried shopping as I was once again very short on time. I quickly bought some handmade Ishfahani bed spreads and some smaller souvenirs to give to friends and family.  Thanking her, I rushed to the office for it was my last day.

I set up some systems, had lunch and worked more till it was time to leave as it was Thursday which is a half day in Iran; however, we stayed there the full day. On being given the option I opted for dinner at the hotel. The host took me for the Badaam, Peste and Gauss shopping and finally, dropped me back to the hotel clearing all the bills even for dinner in advance, as well as the taxi fare to the airport which was at 4 AM.

Dinner, bed and depression. I did not want to leave. But, leave I must, so off at 4AM to the airport. This time the Airport was really crowded many flights scheduled for departure yet I checked in and cleared immigration pretty fast. Walked around the Duty free shops and went to the gate of my flight and waited.

Bored waiting for the flight I noticed a gay couple,  I was surprised at the open display of their sexual orientation in an Islamic country and assumed they must be foreigners.  Boarding announced, boarded the flight with the knowledge that there was a huge group of Bori muslims on board.

As the flight is about to move, the stewardess comes and starts talking to me in Persian and I am just looking at her without a word taking in her beauty ;). When she finished I said sorry I did not understand. Then she apologised saying she thought I was Iranian, and that she wanted to lock the over head compartment, so I stood up and closed it.

Flight was kind of empty so went behind and sat in and empty row and stretched my legs.  Between nodding off and eating, we reach Amchi Mumbai.  Even as the wheels touched the landing strip I switched on my cel to check if all was ok as it had stopped working in Iran on Roaming, and the second it’s on the cell buzzes with a call from one of my clients and I say to myself, welcome back.

 Below are some random pictures of Iran which may be of interest :

Tehran at night

You will not believe this!!! this is a crow and all were like this and they cawing was a little different too.

33 Pol Bridge in Ishfahan

A Garden

This is the entrance of our hotel Notice the Buddha! Normally used to signify India. As this hotel had an  Indian Food restaurant.