Tehran:
A sign outside the hotel that's been assigned to the media by the Iranian government says "Only NAM ID Card holders allowed inside." Unfortunately, this means, Mahmoud Askari, the carpet seller I befriended walking through Tehran's centuries old Grand bazaar, the Bazaar-e-Buzurg, in a spare hour I had, cannot bring his goods to hotel for the group of Indian journalists in the country to cover the 16th NAM Summit, hoping to go back with a souvenir. It also means, the loss of crucial dollars Mahmoud was hoping to make in these trying times. The afternoon in the bazaar- we didn't find him. He found three of us, walking past piles and piles of carpets-silk, wool, silk and wool, nomadic carpets, city carpets, you name it; debating the idea of buying one. He dragged us through the bazaar's big carpet godowns into his small office/shop and began to open them one by one.
For Mahmoud we're like an unexpected windfall. Not just us, but every delegate, journalist and visitor who's currently in Tehran for the summit. His family from the town of Qom, has been in the carpet business for the last 60 odd years, but now life is tough. He has three sons he's pushing through university, saying there's no future in his trade. While owning Persian carpets represents oriental luxury at its best in the West, here in Tehran their traders are finding it tough to put food on the table every day. Their market, made up mainly of foreigners has shrunk to miniscule numbers. Local diplomats and the odd tourist aren't enough to make up for the loss of income ordinary Iranians are suffering due to economic sanctions and runaway inflation.
Indeed, as I ask my interpreter whether I'm being offered a good deal, she looks at me helplessly, saying she has no idea about carpets or their prices. She is young, born well after the Revolution, working as an accountant, and using her English skills to earn a few extra Riyals during the NAM Summit. For her generation, Iran has never been different. A glimmer of moderation and change at the turn of the 21st century, when President Mohammed Khatami was in power, has given way to general gloom. Iran's own people can't afford any of the country's riches - whether its carpets, handicrafts or dry fruit; many can't afford to travel around their own land.
What they can afford, is petrol. Vast quantities of it, at throwaway prices- 50 cents per litre. In fact, when its not shut down for visiting dignitaries, Tehran is one of the most polluted cities with the heaviest and most unruly traffic in the world. And its not at all rare to find women behind the wheel. in fact, Iran, the only non Arab country in the region also stands out for its inherent contradictions on the issue of women's rights. For all its rigid Islamic public and political practices, including a dress code that even foreigners have to adhere to; until now, women in the Islamic Republic of Iran have been allowed to study and work in most professions, even though there is limited political representation. However, just recently, in a worrying sign of things to come, women have been banned from studying 77 courses at the university level- from chemistry to accounting (my interpreter's profession) to engineering and counselling.
Young Iranians have very little by way of social outlets. Their
sheesha and
kabab restaurants are populated mostly by men in the evenings. Young men and women can't date openly, they can't question their government, or organise themselves politically. Fear of speaking out against the state is evident all around, in spite of the hardships they so obviously face. An election coming up in 2014 could well be a reason to hope for change, but that depends on how much of a voice Iran's moderates are allowed to have. Most of them operate underground, social networking is banned, as are many news websites in most places.
As a part of its public relations exercise around the NAM Summit, however, the regime has opened hi speed, free and open internet access to all visiting journalists. While we can tweet and Facebook freely from the summit venue because the regime wants the media to project Iran's truly free spirit, its back in the hotel where reality is slightly different. (in fact Iran's active bloggers, have found ingenious ways to circumvent the strict controls on the Internet).
But in spite of being debilitated by international sanctions and a hard line regime, Iran's people display remarkable resilience. Unruffled by chaotic media, pressurizing them to get the right route to the right place well before the right time, they smile at us benignly as we flounder in a foreign country with a foreign language.
And the ever smiling, ever pushing Mahmoud with his carpets manages to smile for other reasons. I may have tried to be a hard headed bargain hunter as he rolled out one exquisite nomadic rug after another, but I couldn't help leaving his shop with the feeling that he's the one who for one day at least, was laughing all the way to the bank.