My Memories Of Recent Travel To Iran

By Zainab Masooma Mirza

WHEN the plan of going to Iran earlier in the year was first made, I didn’t expect much. The situation had not been great (that’s what the media told everyone), there were jailings and killings and whatnot. I thought we’d just go to a few religious places and maybe some nice tourist places. What I did not expect was for it to become the best trip of my life. Baba (my father) and Appi (my sister) were with me on this memorable trip.

The day we had to leave – March 16th – was the last day of my grade 9^th exams. I was quite stressed about the exam and didn’t give much thought to the trip. We had a late evening flight to Delhi, and the following day – in the night – flight to Tehran. The flight was great – the food even better, I was quite sleepy by the time we reached Tehran. Appi came to pick us up from the airport and I remember being impressed by the way she knew her way around. We reached the hotel in the morning, had breakfast, then slept till sunset.

That evening, we went to the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini (r.a.), it was one of the most beautiful nights. The golden dome was shining against the slowly darkening starry sky. The night was peaceful… We sat inside the mausoleum for around an hour, there were just a handful of people. Sitting there, it was so relaxing. All the troubles and worries, they just disappeared. It made me feel light. That is the thing about every religious place we went to in Iran, they all gave me a unique sense of tranquilness.

To express our respect to the souls that responded to the call for courage and sacrifice, we took a walk down behesht-e-zehra, a martyrs’ graveyard next to the mausoleum. Walking there made us all reflect on what it means to build a nation. We traveled by metro for most of the time in Tehran, it was quick and cheap. Some stations, the ones with the markets, were way more crowded than others, but overall, it was a nice system of transportation.

The next day, we decided to go and visit the Shah’s palace. I’d heard about its extravagance from my sister but that didn’t prepare me for the lavishness of the place. The throne room seemed as though it was made of silver. There were tiny fragments of mirrors all over the room and ceiling which made the whole place look like it was covered in stars. There were also quite a few museums, there were old photographs, dresses, diaries. One in particular stood out to me, it was the diary of a King. He was talking about fireworks, and celebrations and feasts. I felt this strange feeling of anemoia (a nostalgic sense of longing for a past you’ve never lived in yourself). How the place where he once used to have banquets was now a museum for people.

The days we spent there were the days leading up to Navroz. There were all these festivities everywhere, parades and programmes. The general vibe was one of joyfulness and merriness. The rush in the bazaars was also a part of it. Once we stepped out of a station, I was suddenly being pushed against people. There wasn’t even a handful of space between people. It was just one great crowd moving forward, we did try to explore the bazaar but soon realized it was in waste. The bazaar could not be toured, at least not that day.

Later that day, my sister decided to take me to her dorm. The thing is, people from outside need a special application to enter the dorm, we didn’t have it. She told me that it was fine, and that she’ll just sneak me in, she seemed to be quite sure so I didn’t say anything. The plan was, she would use her ID to get me in, then come back a few minutes later to come in herself. Well, that plan went down the drain within a second of reaching there. The guard caught us and we tried giving excuses and eventually Appi just said the truth and that was when they let me in. Honesty is the best policy indeed.

The trip going there was fun in a weird kind of way. Me and my sister had these school bags, and we were just walking till the bus station, it felt like a normal university student’s life. Worrying about how to get in, thinking of what to cook, talking about her exam, all of that finally made the trip seem real. I was there, just walking and talking with her. That was when I first felt like I wanted to live there someday.

The dorm itself was huge to be honest. It could easily house over 500 students; it had a large ground and several buildings. The view from the rooms also won me over. The skyline shining against the black sky, it was all really impressive.

The next day we headed over to Azadi Square, a green city square with a tower (Azadi Tower) at the center. Since we were there around Navroz, we could see all sorts of decorations… From giant eggs to sufre (a Navroz tradition where seven objects starting with the alphabet seen are arranged). It was quite sunny but breezes kept us cool while we enjoyed the greenery.

Our last stop in Tehran was Milad Tower. Roughly half a kilometer tall, it is the world’s sixth tallest tower. It’s a multipurpose tower with four galleries and five floors at the top. One of them being a VIP revolving restaurant. We went there early in the afternoon and explored all the museums and galleries on the top. One of the floors had all these models of influential and important people, from poets to leaders, there were roughly 30 of them. Highly realistic, it was quite a collection. The highlight of the night and the trip though was the revolving restaurant. We paid a hefty sum, and it was completely worth it. We expected a night filled with fun and good food. It didn’t disappoint and instead surprised us at the end with a little adventure of its own.

We’d thought we’d stay there till one revolution, around an hour and a half. We bought food, had fun, gave each other dares, baba was so relaxed he fell asleep halfway through. Once we finished our food and were just sitting and chatting, there was a sudden disturbance. People from the tables in front of us started running towards the exit. At first, I thought it was some kind of game but then when the staff started evacuating everyone out and smoke filled up the place, we realized there was a fire. We picked up all our stuff and were in the lobby waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor, no one relaxed until we were safe downstairs. Someone had already called for the fire station by then. I remember looking back at the building and seeing two elevators flashing with red lights and thinking about how brave they were, rushing up to save people when everyone else was rushing down to save themselves.

The trip we had planned out was spread across several cities in Iran. After Tehran, we had to go to Qom. They’re not too far apart, we went by road. And that road trip was one of the three highlights of the whole journey. The way we were sitting was not too comfortable, but I still enjoyed myself. The view was nothing special, just desert land from both sides and tiny hills but there were these little things all throughout the journey that made it special. Things that made me realize how much happiness people have. We came across people having picnics, laughing, playing, dancing… The whole time I was smiling.

Once we reached Qom, the place where we had decided to stay was a religious study center. The room an Irani friend had booked for us had twelve beds. And we ended up using all of them. The whole place just gave off a comfortable feeling. Within an hour of reaching, we left for the shrine of Masooma-e-Qom (a.s.). The shrine was beautiful. Then we went to a few markets too, but we just kept on coming back to the shrine. Almost magnetically we’d go there again and again for as long as we were there. We didn’t stay in Qom for long and went back to Tehran by road. We had a flight to Mashhad.

The hotel we had booked for Mashhad was at a walking distance from the shrine of Imam Reza (a.s.). We went there every day, at fajr, zuhr and maghrib. The shrine itself was enormous. With several courtyards and mosques, the actual tomb was at the center. A golden dome in the middle of all the marble, it could easily be discerned from all the other mosques. There was this undercurrent of white noise made by thousands of people just talking. Instead of being annoying, it felt comforting, all these people together to pay their respects to an Imam (a.s.). We didn’t really do much else, the shrine took up most of our time.

Next up on our trip was Kerman, the city where martyr Qasim Suleimani was buried. We visited his grave first and the next day we visited an out of the main city area called ‘Mahan’. It was a beautiful garden, not unlike Shalimar Bagh. After enjoying the fresh air there, we headed to a dervish’s mausoleum. On our way into the mausoleum, we were given some tiny plants and bouquets as a sign of appreciation for observing hijab.

It was these little instances of humanity that we saw throughout the trip that made it seem more enjoyable. Whenever we would go to markets, they would give us discounts when they’d know we were students, the drivers would try their best to tell us about the places and would be genuinely curious about where we came from after knowing we were tourists, people in the metro would give up their seats for older people in an instant. It really warmed my heart seeing all this.                                                  

After Kerman, Shiraz was the next stop. We kicked the trip off by exploring the neighborhood of the hotel we were at. It was quite close to the tombs of two famous poets, Hafez and Saadi. We walked there and had a fun time save for the boiling temperature. The tombs themselves were very pretty and had these beautiful waterfalls near them. Indeed, these great personalities deserved such a beautiful place of rest.

Shah-e-Cheragh Shrine was also on our list of places to visit in Shiraz. It’s a shrine of Imam Reza’s (a.s.) siblings. After visiting so many shrines, I came to a realization that the shrines were not only of spiritual significance, but they encouraged familialism (a cultural value that emphasizes warm, close, supportive family relationships and that family be prioritized over self). In every religious place, there would be a separation of halls, there would be an area specifically for females then another for families. People, regardless of gender, could sit together there and pray together.

At night, we went to a famous market called Vakil Bazaar, it is a really big area that used to be the center of the city once. It had big courtyards and arcs. We walked for quite a while but still couldn’t cover the whole place. Later, while waiting in line for food, a group of dancers started performing. Everyone cheered them on and it provided entertainment for us too. We had a lot of fun that time.

Between Shiraz and Isfahan, there’s an area called “Persepolis”, the seat of the government of the Achaemenid Empire. The emperor then built a great entrance which he called the “Gate of All Nations”, only the ruins now remained but was nevertheless impressive. There were humongous rocks mounted on top of each other and museums were scattered across the whole area. We trekked a lot and enjoyed the various museums but the heat killed us. Ice cream quite literally became our savior.

Isfahan would be our final destination before heading back to Tehran and as the closer it didn’t disappoint. After reaching there late at night, we just slept and the next morning went to a famous mosque. Me and my sister were bickering a lot throughout the morning and finally at lunch, we snapped. We ignored each other and I started sulking. Then when we had to decide where to go in the evening, she pointed out that there were these bridges not far from the hotel, but we’d have to walk quite a bit to reach from one bridge to another. She knew I hated walking but then we ended up going there anyway. My mood was still sulky and I kept on drifting off from them until we reached the bridge. It was such an ethereal place. The huge bridges against the sunset and the lights, the freshness of the air and the sound of the river rushing just made my anger dissipate in an instant. The final highlight of the whole trip, Isfahan’s famous bridges were probably where I enjoyed the most.

We started out by walking across the long bridges, there were parks built around it and people were all just relaxing. The atmosphere was a soothing one. One of the bridges had a cafe built under it where we had Iranian tea and cake. Listening to the river and drinking tea felt so wholesome. We walked for a long time, but I didn’t mind it at all. The view was completely worth it. After around 3 hours we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we went to a famous square called “Naqsh-e-Jahan”, it represents the three elements needed to build a strong nation; trade, education and spirituality.   We trekked up Sofeh Mountain, a mountain from where we could see the night view of the entire city (another great experience). After that we headed back to Tehran.

In Tehran we only had a day to meet some people and pack up our things. Despite that, my sister made time for shopping and a nice dinner. The second time in Tehran was nothing fancy, but a fitting end. We did a whole round of Iran and ended up back at Tehran. The next day we left early in the day.

On the flight back to India, I remember just looking back on the trip and feeling utterly satisfied with everything. The whole trip had been fun and vibrant. The culture was something new and I realized I liked it. The whole idea of unrest in Iran was just that – an idea. There was not one time on the whole trip that I felt anything even remotely was wrong. I learnt a lot about my own self. Traveling and being in new places, discovering new things made me discover a lot about myself too. Experiences that I never thought I would have, I had them. And it certainly helped in making me decide where I want to go for higher studies. I’ll always look back on this trip as a part of who I am. This trip, like every other experience, has shaped me into who I am now. I am very grateful that God gave me such an opportunity.

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