Spring in Tehran - Part I
This year we have a real spring here in Tehran. Some years it is just like winter, with snow and blizzard and sometimes it's better to call it summer; hot and intolerable. But now, the weather is nice and cool. Although sometimes the Sun even burns the skins, just in a few minutes it is substituted with nice cuddling breeze. Just imagine today we had a crazy rain shower for a couple of minutes. The wind has been blowing and buzzing tirelessly since last night and has wiped the dark clouds of pollution off the city sky. The greenery is not at its full yet. The grass is a young green and the trees wear a yellowish happy green.
It's the reason I felt a desire to go to Laleh park – Laleh means Tulip in Persian- in the central part of the city to sit a bit and to read a few pages if possible. This park was constructed by the French about ten years before the Revolution and is a regional park. I mean, the people coming to the park to refresh are beyond the locals. I even can say as the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum is just adjacent to this park, it's known to everybody in the city.
The park has different entrances at 5 or 6 sides. The western entrance is the one I love most. There is a small patch of flowers touching your eyes as soon as you step in. There are plants, flower beds, strange looking shrubs jammed in this small patch welcoming you to the Park. This patch is also a cross road of different ways stretching to different locations in the park. I pick the one which goes straightly to the east and I know that it will take me to the big fountain in the center of the Park.
I walk and look around. How everything is differently beautiful of what I see usually in this ugly over polluted city of Tehran. It is always surprising to see how jam of flowers and trees can freshen the air and can be that soothing.
The big fountain in the center is the most attractive place for the people who love to rest a bit and refresh. Just looking around I could see them in every imaginable age; white headed old men chatting and sitting on a bench, young couples sitting in a corner, whispering (probably love words) to each other, some kids with their parents having colorful balloons in hands. At the right side, there was a long wooden table with the middle aged women sitting all around. I could see that they knew each other, speaking to each other from one corner to another, laughing loudly, making noise. So, I guessed they were retired ex-colleagues.
Watching around, the first word which came to my mind was 'Peace'. Yes, the scene was really peaceful and I could say it was like hundreds of similar places all around the world. This word is strongly contradicting the dangers threatening our country and our people these days. Well, we don't hear good news and I am afraid to think about the future. Many of you might have read the report- Iran Body Count. It is hair raising and I feel terrible to see this 'body count' is speaking about this very people I meet everyday at work, in our neighborhood, on taxis and buses, just trying to fight the hardships of life and doing a big effort to keep their decent lives. This report is about the people whom to me have names and have faces. They are not just numbers. They are not nameless. Each of them has a history. Each has his or her own dreams for the future. And I just imagine that it is possible that at this very moment I am writing this post, there are some people thousands of miles away, plotting to kill them, to demolish them. To them, these people are nameless and faceless. They can be like the ones who are killed everyday in Iraq of a bomb blast, of a suicide bombing, of a wrong snipe shot from an unknown corner, at a checkpoint or for some other reason.
To be continued …
This year we have a real spring here in Tehran. Some years it is just like winter, with snow and blizzard and sometimes it's better to call it summer; hot and intolerable. But now, the weather is nice and cool. Although sometimes the Sun even burns the skins, just in a few minutes it is substituted with nice cuddling breeze. Just imagine today we had a crazy rain shower for a couple of minutes. The wind has been blowing and buzzing tirelessly since last night and has wiped the dark clouds of pollution off the city sky. The greenery is not at its full yet. The grass is a young green and the trees wear a yellowish happy green.
It's the reason I felt a desire to go to Laleh park – Laleh means Tulip in Persian- in the central part of the city to sit a bit and to read a few pages if possible. This park was constructed by the French about ten years before the Revolution and is a regional park. I mean, the people coming to the park to refresh are beyond the locals. I even can say as the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum is just adjacent to this park, it's known to everybody in the city.
The park has different entrances at 5 or 6 sides. The western entrance is the one I love most. There is a small patch of flowers touching your eyes as soon as you step in. There are plants, flower beds, strange looking shrubs jammed in this small patch welcoming you to the Park. This patch is also a cross road of different ways stretching to different locations in the park. I pick the one which goes straightly to the east and I know that it will take me to the big fountain in the center of the Park.
I walk and look around. How everything is differently beautiful of what I see usually in this ugly over polluted city of Tehran. It is always surprising to see how jam of flowers and trees can freshen the air and can be that soothing.
The big fountain in the center is the most attractive place for the people who love to rest a bit and refresh. Just looking around I could see them in every imaginable age; white headed old men chatting and sitting on a bench, young couples sitting in a corner, whispering (probably love words) to each other, some kids with their parents having colorful balloons in hands. At the right side, there was a long wooden table with the middle aged women sitting all around. I could see that they knew each other, speaking to each other from one corner to another, laughing loudly, making noise. So, I guessed they were retired ex-colleagues.
Watching around, the first word which came to my mind was 'Peace'. Yes, the scene was really peaceful and I could say it was like hundreds of similar places all around the world. This word is strongly contradicting the dangers threatening our country and our people these days. Well, we don't hear good news and I am afraid to think about the future. Many of you might have read the report- Iran Body Count. It is hair raising and I feel terrible to see this 'body count' is speaking about this very people I meet everyday at work, in our neighborhood, on taxis and buses, just trying to fight the hardships of life and doing a big effort to keep their decent lives. This report is about the people whom to me have names and have faces. They are not just numbers. They are not nameless. Each of them has a history. Each has his or her own dreams for the future. And I just imagine that it is possible that at this very moment I am writing this post, there are some people thousands of miles away, plotting to kill them, to demolish them. To them, these people are nameless and faceless. They can be like the ones who are killed everyday in Iraq of a bomb blast, of a suicide bombing, of a wrong snipe shot from an unknown corner, at a checkpoint or for some other reason.
To be continued …
posted by Laila @ 9:51 AM
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