Tehran, the city I love

I die for this weather! Today there was a clear-crystal weather in Tehran; you could see details of city’s northern mountains from the crowded center of Tehran, shrouded in clouds and beams of sunshine reflecting from the white snow covering them—an artistic, photogenic scene! It was a perfect weather to take hands of your girlfriend into your hands and walk with her under the pale sunshine, bare tress, along the romantic, historic Vali-e-Asr (ex. Pahlavi) street.

Tehran is a very nice city, surrounded by high mountains, and the famous Mount Damavand in view in the far end of city northeast. It is an active, incredibly huge city—a metropolitan with more than 12 million population. But unfortunately, it is an ill city: air pollution, heavy traffic and numerous traffic jams are a few to name. Most of the days the city is submerged into a gray, thick smog. In addition to hiding the nice perspectives, it sickens Tehranians, preventing them from breathing pure fresh air. Polluted air, mixed with traffic and other problems like low average income vs. high prices, makes people anxious and angry. Sometimes you see struggling on just a buck of money when someone’s getting off the taxi. It is much more severe when two cars collide. After all, people of Tehran try to have a smooth life, and try to adapt themselves to these conflicting, confusing conditions.

I love my city, although sometimes dreaming a silent life in a small village! The dynamic, active life here mixed with pollution, noise and traffic has become my lifestyle. But I desperately wish we had a government who would care about healing the sickness of this city—instead of just playing political useless games. Wherever in world I would be, I surely would miss my city; its romantic Tajrish alleys, its memorable Darband and Darakeh, and of course its people. Wherever in world I would be, “I would think of you, my city!”*

* A line from a famous song by celebrated Iranian singer Siavash Ghomeishi who now lives in Canada—“Shahr-e man, man be to mi-andisham!”