Adventures of Mr.Behi

Good morning...my frying pan city!

I can feel that each summer is hotter than the one before. With temperature over 40c, you do not like to move at all from your office even when you have to visit your clients (oops!). Downtown has a worsening factor which is the pollution and as I can see it, no one is ready to do something serious about it. Since a long time ago, they put a restricted area in the middle of Tehran where just certain people can drive within working hours (people like doctors, reporters, others) and sadly, "living within the restricted area" does not count as a factor of qualification for getting the permission. That means I have to leave my place before 6:30 a.m to be able to escape the fine (which is ridiculous). The good thing is that it leaves me with one and a half hours of empty office in the morning for doing stuff (like what I am doing!). My morning rush is crazy but fun. I suddenly realise it is 6:00 and I jump for a shower and shave, Without Mrs.Behi who knows exactly what I should ware (she knows what goes with what and what I should wear not to to look like exactly like the week before). Without her, I would look like a freak. My mind is not just designed to be tidy but I am doing my best...oops, I have my morning meeting in 30 minutes and have to prepare something (I mean a cup of instant coffee to stay awake and something to say in the meeting).

Where to?

Where to? Where to in such a rush? Asked the shrub from the breeze...

When people are "waiting" in Tehran and London

There are tons of things waiting to be written about my trip to England and how different the society was compared to the one here in Iran. There are positive and "not-so-positive" stuff about each side but one thing I noticed was the difference between people when they are "waiting". For the air plane to finally land or in a line for something to buy.

In Tehran, the way people stand in lines is pretty much the same as every where else unless people are always very aggressive when someone tries to cheat. People always look around in the line and make sure the people in front of them or in their back are the same people some minutes ago and if they find a new face, they ask others if he/she was there before and they may all start to argue against the one who was not in the line. Then suddenly, the argue rises and some people say something bad about the government, inflation and all the boring stuff. Some others start talking to each other about the way the price of that thing that they lined for increased and the quality decreased! You suddenly realise that there are people who are talking like friends without knowing each other and their conversation goes to the families for ladies and the job/society/economy/politics for gents. Never saw anything like that in London but say, couples kissing and CCTV monitoring warnings and ...good standard standing in the line by the way..

I realised the same thing when I was flying Iran Air back to Tehran. Because it was Iran Air, there were mostly Iranians obviously. Some living in the States, some living in Canada, some living in the UK. Some have not seen Iran for years. Before landing, I tried to concentrate on the voices around me and people were so fantastically talking. There were some Iranian university professors in the states who were giving advise to youngsters. Old folks talking about their kids back in Iran. There was a Iranian high school student who did not see Iran for years and was very excited. When plane landed, people were clapping in joy, they could not wait. In Mehrabad airport where all the flights from the west land, the people waiting to see their loved ones always make an immense crowed. You enter the hall and people are taking photographs (of their loves ones not you!) and jumping up and down when they recognise someone they know coming. Iranians are very interesting when they are waiting. They do good things but when they fight, you do not want to be in that line any more.

I am waiting for a stable, peaceful Iran. The Iran that is not making negative headlines. I am wondering if I am standing in a line in front of a closed shop or not but while I am waiting...wanna have a chat?

One thousand, eight hundred and fifty eight

You just got your car from the car wash. It is not a fancy car but it is OK. You take your wife to dinner in a good restaurant in town. It is not a very expensive one but is OK (the food was great, I always like the fantastic chicken kabab they make). You drive up north of Tehran where your favourite bookstore is. The traffic makes you so tired but you get there and it is OK. You wander around, buy some music, read books and get out. You want to start your car, a kid comes to you asking you to clean your windshield. It is already clean but that is OK. You give him some money. He says: "One thousand, eight hundred and fifty eight" [That is around 2 USD] and it is 10:30 p.m and that is probably the earn of the day for him. You stay frozen for some minutes. Your wife is always thinking of these kids and you see her cry. This is the bitter side of our life in Tehran. I hope that kid finds a place to stay at night. At least when he is sleeping, there will not be any  bomb falling around his place [for the moment] so that is OK....

open war in ME? Is there any wise around?

The news coming from the conflict in the middle east are shocking. I try to rely on international news because the Iranian news are so biased supporting the Palestinian and Lebanese part of the story. I never realised what the two sides of the conflict really want? Can't they just stop killing more humans? Does it matter who is you bomb or who is you take hostage? You do this to a human. What I see is that the area is so filled with anger and selfishness. The suicide bomber says: They bomb our houses and killed our people so I kill their people and I go to heaven. Israel says: We are killing the terrorist. I believe those with more military power and in general those with guns, should consider themselves more responsible. I repeated to myself over and over again, Why? Is there any tiny possibility that they can repeat the South African model?

In Iran, the anti-Israeli slogans have been filling our ears for 27 years. We saw Palestinians supported Sadam Hussein when he attacked us. We saw they were sad when he was captured while we were happy. As humans, we see they suffer and we see they are treated in harsh way. The same happened in Russian Chechnya but Iranian government put a silence to it because it needs Russia for nuclear stuff. Even supporting humanitarianism is biased these days. I can not support anyone who says Death to another one". I can not support who bombs innocent civilians in their beach camp or the one who calls himself the party of god and blows a coffeshop.

World cup finals and stupid Iranian TV

Each time I go to a trip outside Iran, I get overloaded with work after I return. I have selected many photos and pictured some drafts in my head to write about the UK trip before I forget them (That is the main purpose of my blog anyway!). Now the world cup finals are finished and I guess I watched most of the games. I enjoyed watching the games in England apart from the very wired English football fans. In Iran, we also enjoyed the live broadcasting of the games and Iranian TV even sent a live reporter to the games. I like the way this guy reports the games. He kind of knows the game and the players inside out and the Iranian style energy that he adds is interesting.

The stupid thing about watching international games in Iranian TV is the censorship. It is hard to believe that how a live game can be censored and why it should be. Iranian TV tries to be very careful not to show the half-naked fans especially if they are female! and they cut and paste the scenes in a very obvious yet insane way that you sometimes loose a crucial sense of the game. Consider looking at the slow motion play of the team doctors putting ice bag over a players leg or looking at the slow motion of the goals endless time during the game! I can not believe some one is getting paid to sit there and do these crazy things! Now the world cup is over and four more years to the next one.

The Size Of Our World

Look at this: The Size Of Our World. My definition for beyond changed a lot after seeing this.