Gustible - under the rubric of [$_SELF]

After landing at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, I had the dubious pleasure of having my bags searched for the presence of beverages containing significant amounts of ethanol. The customs officials were courteous and friendly – and thus began my introduction to Iran, the strange child of ancient Persia.

As a first time visitor to Iran, my expectations were formed by ubiquitous media reports of an oppressive and repressive regime. Reality refused to conform to my expectations. This post is not about politics or religion though. I will do no more than share a few mental and visual images of this country with you.

Tehran is a very large city, with fifteen million or more inhabitants. It is polluted, noisy, its roads are hopelessly jammed with endless streams of cars – just like any other major city from Sao Paolo to Seoul. The strange thing about Tehran is this – the walls of the city’s buildings are covered by murals! I snapped a few from the window of a moving car.

I really have no idea what the motivation is for creating these images. Those of Ayatollah Khomeini appear to be fairly straightforward, but the rest ? A vision of a better place ? A promise ? A wish ?

More on Iran to follow.