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Missing, a Good Thing

Our arrival in Tehran is certainly auspicious - 3 camera crews are here to greet the plane's arrival. The focus of their attention? A trophy wielding sportman returning home to the greetings of fans and family and camera crews. Clearing customs is a synch - for once the foreigner's queue at customs goes quicker than than for the locals - its a a half empty flight, and I guess October is not the tourist season. A female colleague is politely asked to don a headscarf before her passport is processed.

Within an hour we arrive at the hotel. Turn on the TV to try and see out what kind of event the sports heroes were competing in but get side tracked by videos of the intifada on channel one. The production values of the videos being broadcast are actually close to many of the underground sk8 promos floating around, or is it the other way around? Visions of of Mssrs Shortys, Fuct, et al. watching stone throwing resisters for tips on how to keep it real. For all of sk8s hardcore pavement chic you don't get any edgier than death so chemagh wins out over hoodies.

A late walk through a rather sizeable local park in an effort to stretch my legs. By 10:30pm the remaining visitors are families checking out the animal enclosures, couples and groups of male youths. I suppose sitting on exercise machines whilst smoking is a double act or rebellion where ever you are in the world. They smile, nod and like teens the world over check out my footwear.

Many of the strategically placed two seater benches have views of greenery, and of other two seater benches. Watching me watching you. I assume to know very little about Iran (though at this stage maybe a little more than you) but there are two striking features of this park - both things that are missing from comparable parks, say in the UK or the US. The first is that the children's playgournd is, well, not enclosed. The second is that the only signs in the entire park direct people to 'Don't drink this water' or 'Drink this water'. Nothing that suggests anti-social behaviours within these grounds. Signs can tell you a lot about the norms in a culture. A lack of signs may also speak volumes.

But at what point does the public display of signs become redundant?

Writing from Tehran | October 19, 2006 | Permalink