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Tale
5 - Pakistan/Iran/Turkey - by Malik
Yazd, 25th April 1997
I left Kerman on the night bus. It had reclining seats. The
desert was continuing and there would be nothing much to see.
By the early hours, the bus reached Yazd, 337 miles away in
approximately 7 hours.
Yazd turned out to be a medium sized town. It had many historical
buildings like Alexander Prison, large wind-bells and wall paintings.
There was a high tower. Narrow and dark stairs led to the top.
I went up resting in between to catch my breath. Once there,
I was spellbound by the magnificent view of the town and its
suburbs. The new houses were built on old designs discarding
European styles. Villages followed a rectangular pattern with
high mud walls and flat roofed. I saw a lot of greenery all
around. Among sand dunes, there were trees and bushes like tamarisk,
poplar, date palm, acacia and willow.
I met many foreign tourists mostly from France. As per their
advice, I decided to go by train to Esfahan hardly at a distance
of 285 km.
Train Journey
The train passed through Desh-e Kavir, which mingles with Dasht-e
Lut described earlier. US forces had landed in Kavir Desert
in 1980 in an abortive mission to rescue hostages held at the
American Embassy in Tehran. Kavir was a rainless region and
barren except for some oases irrigated by qanats (canals).
Esfahan, 28th April 1997
I reached Esfahan in the afternoon. It was not as hot as Yazd
but rather pleasant. I was out of the desert and into greener
pasture. Esfahan was a one time capital of Persia and designated
by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. The famous rhyme Esfahan
nesf-é jahan (Esfahan is half the world) was coined in
the 16th century to express the city grandeur.
In the evening I had a walk. The most remarkable feature was
a big square, roughly seven times larger than San Marco in Venice.
Besides, Emam Mosque looked majestic with cool blue tiles. Within
walking distance, I found more mosques, palaces, bridges and
gardens. It was a city for getting lost in the bazaar and dozing
in beautiful gardens.
Esfhan was a city for getting lost in the bazaar!
At night I went to a traditional restaurant. There were singers,
both professional and amateur. Though I did not understand a
word of Farsi, I was bewitched when listening to poems in the
local dialect.
Esfahan was also famous for its carpets. There was a bazaar
having carpets of various colours: the scarlet, green and yellow
Kashan, the red-blood and black Turkoman. A shopkeeper, Agha
Mossadegh, recalled the past: "At one time, I had three
hundred children making carpets with their delicate fingers.
Now, child labour is banned. Adults are no match. Carpets are
not as fancy as they used to be".
Air Safari
By moving around, I found out that airfares were very low. The
catch was that you had to book far in advance. A footloose and
fancy free traveller like me could not afford advance booking.
Still when an opportunity came, I jumped on it. An airline agent
of Kish Air offered me a ready seat on its 44-seater plane to
my next destination, Qom. Flying at medium altitude, I get an
exceptionally attractive view of Iran territory. I saw the colours
of the desert and the striking profile of mountain ranges.
Qom, 1st May 1997
Hardly 125 miles away, reaching Qom was just a hop-on, hop-off
affair. Qom was a holy city of Shi'ite Muslims on the River.
There were many religious schools dedicated to teaching of Islam.
A large number of students had come to Qom from all corners
of Iran (It takes at least 20-30 years to master the Quran and
Hadith to become an Ayatollah). Qom was the centre of the movement
against Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi that ended up with the toppling
of his regime in 1979.
My feet were aching and legs quaking. I dived into a restaurant.
The waiter greeted me by saying, "Chelo kebab?" He
then said, "do you want anything else such as chicken rice?".
"Chelo kebab would be ok", I replied. "Kheili
khub!" the waiter said happily (meaning-very good!).
He went away and returned with a number of plates containing
raw onion, yoghurt, white rice and butter. Finally he brought
a plate of kebab, about nine inches of grilled meat, pulled
off the skewer but still sticking together. That was delicious
indeed!
Hafeez ur Rahman Malik, Karachi-Pakistan.
Submitted: 20
December 2002
Next: Tale 6 - Pakistan/Iran/Turkey
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Malik
- Pakistan
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