By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

 

Fereshteh means angel in Persian.  It is also the name of one of the most well-known areas in Elahieh in the northern part of Tehran.  There used to be many large houses here with big gardens where the well off Tehrani used to live.  These days many of the lovely houses have been knocked down and replaced by large, ugly, impersonal high-rise apartment blocks, crowding the lovely narrow alleys and side streets.

 

So, it was more than a thrill when I went to my friend Haleh Anvari’s house in a small alley off one of the side streets of Takhie Street in Fereshteh.  There I was suddenly taken back to happy childhood memories where we used to have a garden with a large pond and many corners where we would play hide and seek.  This lovely old two storey building has been transformed by one of Tehran’s well known architect-designers, Behrouz Bayatt, into something so modern; yet it is holding on to many of the lovely old elements and its character.  Inside the house, Haleh has used her magic and turned the house into something warm, inviting as well as a lovely happy home for herself and her son Kasra and her husband Shahriyar, a successful businessman.  I simply fell over heels in love with the many baby turtles in the small pool in her kitchen.

 

 

Haleh Anvari is modern lady with such a thick English accent that the first time I heard her voice I thought I was back in England.  She is very well read, and what I like most about her is the fact that she is a great friend and a friend who you can count on, a rare thing these days. She is or has been a reporter, a media guide and translator, a journalist; and recently she turned her many sided talents to photography.  Many readers may remember my report on her Chadour exhibition.

 

 

Recently I went to her place for coffee with a visiting friend just to see her. I took some photographs, and here you can see for yourself how modernity and traditional character can be so successfully mixed.