A group selfie at the Caspian Sea, iran | Found on Instagram
For many years, I yearned for glimpses of the life and people of Iran aside from its myopic presentation on mass media. After my epic trip to Iran, I now have my own first hand experience and pictures and stories that I’ve been excited to share with you, and I am eager to continue to share. Albeit, at the slow pace the series is unfolding, it may take me 3 years to recount a 3 month journey! (Which, an aside, a query: Why can’t I clone myself and put my clones to work? Do you think it would be alright if I crowdfund a cloning project? The clones would have to work feverishly from sunrise to sunset, it’s true, but they would get to listen to a Googoosh and Abjeez sound track and get plenty of tea and noon ‘o panir, as well as the occasional polo khoresh on festive holidays. So I wouldn’t hear of any complaints from them. Oh no! No sir! They should just be thankful and count their blessings to be so gainfully employed. Ungrateful wretches! … And yes, please do ignore me, I’m just being ultra silly.)
Meanwhile, thanks to social media, you don’t need to actually travel to Iran to gain a more balanced, comprehensive and vivid idea of life there. It’s also possible by now to glean quite a lot about the Iranian culture from the Iranians-at-large in diaspora communities across this marvelous and confounding globe of ours.
So I’m starting this new blog series where I will share with you some of my favorite Persian-centric images, Facebook postings, Instagrams, Pins, tweets, websites, articles, videos, news, businesses, and what-nots as found in cyberspace. The Persian nooks and crannies of the Internet! I hope it will be a fun way to offer you an alternative glimpse of the life, sensibility, aesthetics and culture of Iran and the Iranian people. And one that I hope will introduce you to the work, photos, stories, and resources of a number of talented and passionate Iranians, hyphenated Iranians, and Iranian organizations.
Note: All of the images are scoured from social media sites and are live links (just hover the mouse over the image and/or the handle name.) I encourage you to click and go right to the source to explore and follow their content!
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Fathers & Daughters in Iran. A series of portraits of Iranian fathers and daughters in different social classes in Tehran and other cities by Nafise Motlaq.
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Beautiful #architecture, #Yazd, #Iran. http://t.co/n8pbxtbRrS @SalviaOmd #MiddleEast
— Iran Style (@Iran_Style) August 19, 2014
I made a happy squeaky noise when I saw this image on Twitter. And not just because @Iran-Style is one of my fave people to follow on Twitter. This is the hotel my friend and I stayed at when we went to Yazd (in April) and it brings back so many good memories. It’s pretty, right? My room was 3 windows to the left! Note the shallow pool in its courtyard — a trademark of many Persian gardens and courtyards.
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https://twitter.com/AlborzHabibi/status/499538952853155841
Did you hear about this? Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian and currently a professor at Stanford, became the first woman to win math’s most prestigious medal. I have insider info from the geek community that goes like this: “The geeks love Maryam!” That’s good to know! @Wired magazine has a nice story and a nice video about this truly admirable woman, who, on a shallow note, I must say looked impossibly adorable as a little girl. Every single Iranian is proud of her!
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Agnès Varda’s 1976 Short Film Plaisir d’Amour en Iran http://t.co/CuDMOCjLbu
— Mehrdad Aref-Adib (@arefadib) July 17, 2014
So this is a vintage video shot in Iran: a harmlessly fun way to while away 6 minutes of your life and you’ll get to practice your French into the bargain.
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And here’s an Iranian hiker posing atop the Bisotoon wall in Kermanshah! Ah, this brings back sweet memories of my own trip again. A mere 4 months ago on a drizzly day, in the company of my lovely cousins, I stood exactly where this hiker is standing! yadesh be kahir!
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http://instagram.com/p/qCgXmcBgzC/?modal=true
Here’s a flower nursery in Iran …
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and when a nice Iranian mom decides to make you zereshk polo, this is what they mean: #foodofiran pic.twitter.com/jBf6LBjtxu
— Dirt Road (@pedestrian) September 15, 2014
We can’t leave without at least one mouthwatering shot of Persian food! A zereshk polo glistening with butter and saffron … made by a nice Iranian mom … oh my sweet Lord!
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And since we started with a selfie, let’s end this with another selfie, this one a couple of young Iranian women in the subway, in Tehran.
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So that’s it. Hope you enjoyed this inaugural tour of my favorite Persian nooks and crannies in cyberspace; and boos boos and hugs until next!
Love the photo’s of fathers and daughters, really so beautiful and varied. Amazing. The zereshk polo, yum. I love the way the zereshk is sprinkled on top and not cooked in with the rice.
That’s so interesting you notices and yup, that’s definitely one technique too cook some of the mixtures separately and sprinkle it on top. But some other people would never hear of doing so! 😉 I like it both ways. Gives me greater opportunities for enjoying food, ha ha
<3 love <3
mersi Ahu joon
Love the idea of this new series of posts Azita! Always fascinating to learn more about the Iranian culture! That zereshk polo really does look delicious! Also love the view in Kermanshah… stunning!
Dear Margo, it pleases me to no end that you enjoy this series! <3 xoxo
Great post! I love the idea of this series too. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Sara joon!
Oh dear, I just watched the Agnès Varda video! The scenery is superb, but the text is soooo corny! Haha! This is a fun post, thanks Azita!
Oh Darya, you did watch it? Hee hee, yeah, definitely stilted and corny in its vibe as well, but charming too, a little, no? And delighted that you like this series! xo
Love this post. So interesting. The two fathers – how different, liked how he had his little dog on his lap very James Bond. The film was beautiful. Looking forward to the next piece.
Thank you Maria joon for articulating an association that I sensed but couldn’t place: exactly! That is such a Jame Bond evil person pose! Ha ha. Glad you enjoyed. Boos boos boos!
Such gorgeous photos! I seriously need to make that polo. Very cool vid. 🙂 I love how moved you were by this trip.
Amanda,if you make it, consider doing a guest post here, will you? I’d LOVE that.
I’d be honored!
Yay! It’s open-arms whenever you are ready i’d be delighted invite and I’d be the one honored and already gleeful by the prospect! Can’t wait Amanda! 🙂
Great, great post, Azita! You are darn right to be proud of the young mathematician! I would too! Even if we live in another country, we cannot and must not forget our heritage.
I love the daughters/fathers series and the fact that the author decided to go through different social classes. It gives you a better view of the society.
Keep it coming, my dear!
Love,
F. Xx
I will keep it coming Francesca joon, but with one condition: we must make plans for a visit, soon! OK, kidding, won’t blackmail you into socializing! And thank you for the lovely feedback! 🙂
Love love love the idea of glimpsing Iran through social media! This could be a blog in and of itself. Keep going!
Thank you dear Patty! There’s a lot of interesting things to share and I’m thrilled you’re into it! xo
Why was I unfollowed from your blog??!! No wonder I haven’t been getting any notification. Thank goodness I found out! Just fixed it. WP is getting weird on me. Maybe it’s time to self-host? 🙂 How you doin, Azita?
Dearest Angie! So good to hear from you! No worries re missing posts. I’ve been so crazy busy I’ve missed reading my favorite blogs as well. Hope your Vegas trip was awesome and I look forward to catching up with you and your beautiful blog and the rowdy and bar none Friday Fiestas where all the cool kids hang out! 😉
xoxo
azita
[…] start part 2 of the Persian nooks and crannies of cyberspace (see here for part 1 and the series’ mission statement) with Anthony Bourdain – the chef and food critic bar none who visited Iran this past spring. […]
This is an awesome idea. Wow. Endless possibilities & so much to learn @ our finger tip. Thank you Azita.
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Glad you like it! But as I was replying to Mary Frances above I’m wondering if I should continue the series because the embedeed images take a long time to load. Ah well … it’s always lovely to hear from you!
As a selfish point of view of course I would like to say yes please but the weight is on your shoulder. No matter what I enjoy your blog as is & I’m always looking forward to it. There is always something interesting & lovely in it for me to be be amused by.
Xo
[…] It’s time for Part 3 of our Internet: Persian Style series! ( See here for the series’ mission statement.) Let’s get the ball rolling with this cheerful pic […]