Colorful but unstable
Beneath all the struggles, specially economically, people still strive to push the boundaries

November 5, 2005
iranian.com

A female friend of mine who has been out of Iran for many years just came back from a visit. She has written an account of some aspects of life there... it sounded to me as nice as other professional accounts I read here and there. -- Mehdi

You are right about the bag of mixed emotions... Iran and Iranians have changed sooooooooooooo much since eleven years ago... Surprisingly I felt so comfortable dressing up just the way I liked on the streets of Iran, holding hands with Mammad and occasionally grabbing a kiss or two, laughing and just having a great time. The kind of gestures that were taboo, the strict dress-codes that are non existent in Iran right now, especially in Tehran, makes it all very comfy for the middle and upper-class, and not to mention the foreigners to hang around the streets and enjoy the FAD.

The same sub-cultures that exist in the west, like the druggies, the snobs, the intellects, the hippies, the artists, the virgins and the experienced, the gays are also existent in Iran but the difference is that now you can easily set them apart on the streets by their dress-code and their encounter. They also have their distinct cafes in the back streets of Tehran ... you would be amazed at the kind of fashion that exists in Iran right now... people wear absolutely what they want... the gay guys are wearing their nail-polish and earrings etc and the girls are not short of any make-up or bare skin on the street... You hardly wear any scarf in Iran, you practically see everyones' hair style and it is the latest fashion that I see here in Amsterdam...

Iran as a result of all this change has become much more colorful, but yet unstable... and MY GOD so many beautiful girls and guys, of course the ratio of the girls to guys in Iran is now four to one, as you know, so this has created a huge problem for the girls who want a proper relationship... as a result of all this freedom , guys can have sex with as many girls as they want so the there is not enough potential husbands in Iran... Orgies are not hard at all to come by... The "good" girls are aging fast and marriage is almost hard to grab unless you know the family or a guy who is interested in marriage...

Girls are so desperate that they would still your partner at a finger tip, no moral, or consciousness, just pure pleasure... The youth are just after pleasure and fun and they take what they want... it kind of reminds me of those Czech and Russian girls, but Iranians have become worse... they are all on diets, girls don't eat so they all have amazing bodies, guys look great and trendy... and picking up prostitutes and drugs is the easiest thing on the streets... anywhere, even in Shiraz...

Music is something that comes anywhere at anytime... whether in a taxi or in a shop... live bands and great mixture of music, modern and traditional are part of any middle to upper-class restaurant in Iran...

The shopping malls have become the latest hangouts of young people... and now days there are so many of them... with all variety of food, any cosine from any country you want, they have in Iran... people just go out to eat in Iran... The most amazing icecream I had was in Iran, they are called "bastany-e neem-metri", there is such creations and literally this cone of an icecream, which I ate a bit of, was half a meter long... no kidding, it was pouring all over me... but they eat it...

Theater and film industry has totally boosted in Iran... Went to watch "Panjereha" at the main theater in Tehran which was great... It is really great to see such creativity that is flourishing in Iran... beneath all the struggles, specially economically, people still strive to push the boundaries and they have achieved a great deal of freedom through their creative work...

There is not a single thing that you can not find in Iran, from food to clothing to anything you want.. but you just have to have money for it... the good things are only for the upper-class because they are more expensive than in the west... if you have money in Iran you can live a great life, so it appears on the surface...

Now, lets give you some sad stories about Iran... If they ran a survey in Iran, I would say more than ninety percent of the society have a high stress level, and they breath the kind of air that would be considered dangerous by Western standards, on a daily basis... I sometimes would fall asleep in the car from the heavy lead you breath... it's so polluted in Iran... it's much better in the North and less popular cities... but still very bad air in the cities... statically around six thousand cars come to Tehran everyday, and they don't leave the city...

It's complete mess in Iran all over... They have built anywhere they could, there is hardly any order to landscaping and housing in Tehran... It's a complete disorder of building and high-rises... and there is hardly any room left in Tehran... The cities look so ugly from the sky, you would think it's a big dump...

By the way the landscape is a big rubbish bin... they dump what they want on the streets... You think Athens is dirty... well let me tell you that Iran is a bigger filth than Athens, at least in Athens they systematically clean the environment, in Iran they only clean the rubbish bins... it was terribly disturbing to see the accumulation of all the rubbish in the mountains and green areas where Gypsies live... Ah... shocking!

Corruption is at its best and a land of no laws... Mammad and I almost bought two apartments in Tehran and it was a hell of an experience, and at the end of one month struggle they ended up being fraud... Everybody lies, no one will tell you the truth, and this is the council and official government institutions... you can not trust anyone and you can be sure to get ripped off even as an Iranian in Iran... people have no moral, everyone looks after their own family, friends and rip off each other if they could... good, decent people are struggling in Iran and it is hard for them to make their living...

Youth have no jobs, they look forward to nothing... You can not see any hope and future for the youth, deep down they are all sad and they all want to get out... It's like a prison in Iran... no rights, people do what they want, you've got to look out for yourself... Don't ever think about going and living in Iran, you won't survive more than a month there...

Even mammad couldn't believe the things he saw in only seven years of being away from Iran... I felt so sorry for the ones whom I met in parties, so many sad stories... they are so wasted, they are so talented but yet can not achieve what they deserve... The thing that young people do these days are going to courses... there is courses for whatever you want, youth whom don't have much to do, just keep going to courses so at least they are doing something...

It's slow death in Iran for people. Mammad and I got very depressed realising what has become of this country... politics is just a game for the government to keep people busy so they don't realise that they are deprived of the basic human and civil rights.

Although, Mammad and I had a wonderful time in Iran... we spent a small portion with families... most of time we were with his artist, film director and actor friends... I got to know a lot of famous people in Iran, including my favourite actor Mehran Modiry whom I have a picture with :)))... went to heaps of parties, got drunk and had a wonderful time...

We also went to Shiraz, which was really sad to see... we both got very pissed off... they have destroyed all they could... there is hardly any monuments left in one piece in Shiraz... the tour guides tell total lies to tourists about what has happened to the Persepolis or Pasargad... locals have totally rubbed these historical sites and if you want you can even scribble on them cause there is no one to tell you otherwise...

Up North was also a lot of fun, god, much cleaner air but not cleaner land... we were just breathing clean air on the mountains... we had just lack of it in Tehran...

Anyway, enough of Iran, I'm tired of talking about it.. I get upset every time I think about it...