In the Land of My Forefathers - Behind the Tourist Iran
This is my second visit to the land of my forefathers, I was first posted there in 1990 as a Major of the Indian Army on deputation to the UN. At that time Iran had just emerged from an eight year war with Iraq and the strict rigours of the revolution were in force. Twenty six years later I visited a very different Iran, beautiful, weary from years of sanctions yet keenly progressive. This photoblog is not a chronicle of my trip nor is it a travelogue. It is not a compendium of tourist sites and their photos, there millions on the net. Here I have tried to impart some flavour of what I saw and felt. Leaving 'Bombay' With 'Madras' further south. The place names haven't changed in the map display. Many years of sanctions and isolation have left their mark on many aspects of Iran, the aircraft, hotels, cars, all require substantial modernisation. Urban sprawl Tehran is a large city, about 16 million people live in 700 sq km. The size of the sprawl is indicated