Pretty Simply Normal: My Iran

The very first time I went to Iran was in 1977, for the duration of about two weeks only. The visit was for me to be introduced to my husband's family and friends there. My information about Iran was nearly nada then. But I knew it had a long history and a great civilisation.

We flew to Tehran, the capital, and I remember we shared a cab from the airport with an American couple, to get to the city centre. The man asked my husband M if it was true that the traffic jam in Tehran was bad. No sooner had he asked, we came on right smack into a huge traffic jam. It took sometime for us to reach our destination as the cab slowly crawled along.

In Tehran we stayed with the parents of M's long time friend SN. His wife was a school teacher who taught primary English, so we could converse a bit, she in her broken English and I in my broken Farsi. His parents, Maman and Papa, were very kind and showed us great hospitality. Maman's cooking was really very delicious; chelo (long grained rice with saffron), khoresh (chicken or meat stews), salads, etc. She also made her own fruit jams. We also had lots of fresh fruits, the most memorable for me being cherries from their garden.

With Papa, Maman & family, Tehran (MB 1977)

After a couple of days in Tehran, we flew to Mashhad, where M's family live. I was introduced to his mother QJ, older brother HA and family, and younger brother HB. (His father had passed away when M was 14). In Mashhad I had the opportunity to visit the holy shrine of Imam Reza, within the Haram-e Razavi. Of course I had to don a chador (literal translation: tent) for this. But it was worth the discomfort because the Haram, with its exquisite blue tiled, golden domed buildings and arcades, was quite a magical place at dusk when we were there. We also went to the bazaar for me to look around and I noticed that jewellry sold there had exquisite firuze (turquoise) stones, which I later found out was mined in nearby Neishabur.

Gold dome & minaret of the mosque in the Imam Reza Shrine complex
(CNB 1977)

With the family in Mashhad (MB 1977)

The Bazaar, Mashhad 1977

With Behzad in a Mashhad orange grove (MB 1977)

M also took me to Neishabur, birthplace (and also final resting place) of the famous poet Omar Khayyam. Who does not know of his Rubaiyat?

..... "Myself when young did eagerly frequent
       Doctor and saint, and heard great argument
       About it and about: but evermore
       Came out by the same door as in I went.".....         (From the translation by Fitzgerald)

Anyway we visited his tomb, in a beautiful garden complex there. M had half siblings in this town, so we visited from house to house, sipping tea with Neishabur's famous crystallised sugar and eating local cookies and sweets. There was also lots of fruits served, including small cucumbers.

With the family at OK's memorial (MB 1977)

With relatives, Neishabur (MB 1977)

Back in Mashhad, M took me to Tus, to the mausoleum of the great Persian poet Ferdowsi, and also to Imam Ghazali's tomb. Ferdowsi (b. 935) wrote the long epic poem Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) between c.977-1010 AD. The 60,000 verses of this national epic of Iran is about the mystical/historical past of Greater Iran from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century. Imam Ghazali (b. 1058) was an Islamic scholar who published more than 500 works.

With QJ and Behzad at Ferdowsi's memorial (MB 1977)

M, his mother QJ and nephew Behzad (CNB 1977)

At the Tomb of Imam Ghazali (MB 1977)

Then we said goodbye to M's family, and took an overnight train back to Tehran and thence to Kermanshah, in the west of Iran, where M had served in the University there. Kermanshah (pop. 800,000) borders Iraq. The gardens of Taq-e Bostan are more than 2,000 years old, and bas relief carvings are found at Bisotun, a village 30 km. from Kermanshah.