By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

It is not very often that we have been able to head out of Tehran and breathe a little fresh air and enjoy the country.  On one such rare occasion last weekend we were invited by our friends Jassem and Vida to their bagh (garden) near Mohammad-Shahr in the Karaj area, about 60 kilometers from Tehran.  A bagh is a large or small piece of land in the country where people usually grow fruits trees, vegetables and flowers. There is usually a small hut or even a house, often a barbecue; and sometimes there is a pool for those hot summer days where the kids want to go swimming.  And of course like any garden there are many flowers.

I had a meeting in the morning so we started off late and by the time we got there it was well past noon and we were all ready to have lunch.  Vida and their daughter Rana and I went to gather some fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, tarragon, parsley, baby leeks, green peppers etc. from their vegetable gardens, while Jassem started the barbecue.  We were able to have a lovely lunch, with freshly picked vegetables, fruits and herbs.

Jassem Ghazbanpour is a well known Iranian photographer whose books of photographs of Iran are world famous, especially his works in the three volume set “The Splendour of Iran” and “Bam” (February 2004).  See also his photographs of the Women’s Horse riding Competition in Azerbaijan (July 2004). His Bam books has recently been republished with many more pictures before and after the earthquake there.

Jassem and Vida told us that they have planted such variety and diverse type of flowers in their bagh that at anytime of the year when they go there, there are some flowers, even in winter they have edelweiss.  They also told us that we could go there as often as we could, and we surely hope that it will not be long, another year, before we head there again, if our busy life will permit us to take time off.  But we had a great time then and your places for sure were empty on that Friday.