Tehran is the Mega metropolitan city. Those who have ever been or lived in Tehran know it well how gigantic the city is. Tehran has no limits, the endless sprawl with thousands of neighborhoods that each holds its own character, culture and image. Some of the neighborhoods also represent different nationalities of the Iranian people with their beautiful languages. This is the story of Tehran from my own experiences and why I love the city so much.
I live in foothills of the Alborz Mountains on the 22nd floor. I own my apartment and have been living here for the past ten years. My windows open to the majestic Tehran Mountain and beautiful eternal city picture of houses and streets. The city is covered with smog during the hot summer days and the sound of horns are never ending music to remind all that the blood in the veins of the city is running.
I have a neighbor Eli who is a few years older than me. She is a divorce woman living a cross from my apartment. I tell her that her divorce is the best thing that has happened to me. We have become close friends and about three to four times a year, when we feel lonely and desperate, we become momentary lovers! We have a great understanding. I wait for spring and summer the moment the autumn ends because my life gets fun and exciting.
Tehran is huge but I don’t visit the city often. I hang out in my own neighborhood and work not too far from it. That’s me, a planner. I had planned it that way to live and work close by. I love the area so much that as soon as I leave my neighborhood I begin to miss it immediately. Even if I go further in the city, not leaving Tehran my heart begins to beat for my apartment, life and friends. As if I stay long enough I lose everything that I have! Not sure where the feeling comes from.
I am one of the luckiest people on earth. At least I feel that way and am very thankful to be healthy, single and happy in life. During the summer my friend Sina comes over and Eli asks her friend Roshanak to visit her place. Four of us hang out and talk and laugh most of the evening. My Balcony is small so most of the time we go to the roof and hang there. I am not good with words to explain my feelings when we all hang out and enjoy our warm summer evenings. Sunsets are just incredible. At night we normally move back to my place and I make tea while we play cards. Eli and I play against those two. The entire rooftops view becomes silvery orange and the smell…Oh the smell of the city. I long for the smell all winter. There is something in the air that makes you fall in love. That’s Tehran to me, that aroma.
I have an older lady who treats me like her own son stops by every other week and makes my place clean and shiny. My parents bring me food once in a while and I do have a decent job that pays my bills. I do not want to get married. My parents and family has given up asking me or letting me know that they can bring the “album” of choices if I choose to get married. Besides the guilt that my mother gives me about wanting to be a grandma, I don’t care what they think. I don’t want to change anything. I have it great. The only selfish worry that I have is for Eli to find a mate or Sina to leave town. He has applied for a job in Bandar Abbas and another in Bushehr. He likes it there and want to live in a heated city. I don’t understand why, but it will happen sooner or later. Nothing I can do to change the future but for the time being I live the life that I always wanted. I love Tehran and I love Life.
