A writer from Sevastopol spoke about a trip to Iran: Crimean nature, and non-alcoholic moonshine

– Platon, describe the specific steps – how you got there, what passport, what was the flight, screening at the airport. Were they met at customs as one of your own or wary? Were there any tensions with the Crimean residence permit – I understand that Iran is not Georgia and not the Baltic states, but still.

– I flew by plane – there and back flight of the Iranian airline. There is a half-empty plane, but back – full. So I understand that it was a transit flight. There were enough of those who illustrated the classic “Russo tourist image of morality.” Remembered, eaten into memory. At the same time, there are very good-natured staff on the plane: Iranians and Iranians. It’s funny to say the word “chicken”.

They prepared a visa for me – and with it I entered the country. Visa for a month, I think. Everything is as fast as possible, good-naturedly. It seems that no one looked at my registration, but in Tehran itself I deliberately emphasized that I was from Sevastopol – and some were very happy about that.

– Iran and North Korea are a standard list of the “most closed” countries, before Cuba was still in it, now it is not. Does Iran seem closed to you? What kind of houses, city, inhabitants are there? All women on the street in traditional dress – or are there exceptions? What language are the signs in, what kind of food? Is there a U-turn for tourists – European or Russian?

– The closeness of Iran is a stereotype. Our guide, who showed us the beauty of the Shah’s residences, as well as the stunning bridge in the city center, said: “Tehran is a city of contrasts.” If anything, she did not watch “The Diamond Arm” – I clarified. But here we must remember that I was only in the capital, and megacities around the world, of course, have similar features. So, I saw a very different Tehran. A veiled girl spoke to me in pure English about the Stanley Kubrick films as an example. Or women stop a girl because her arms are open below the elbow, and ten minutes later you meet a girl with pink hair – and they are not covered with anything.

There is, of course, a division into rich and poor. The separation is felt. The wealthy are concentrated in the north of Tehran. Expensive restaurants where people in European clothes smoke hookahs – I’m talking about brands. And the waitress will have a few words with you about Metallica’s latest album. But in another place you meet a young man – and he talks to you for a long, long time about the inner man and his struggle with the mental wolf. In general, I believe that the Iranians hold on to their culture – it is great, and they are saturated with it. At the same time, in one of the restaurants, I ate the best pizza in the world. Really incredible pizza. And it was made in Iran.

As for tourism, I heard Russian speech. I saw few Europeans. There were tourists from Pakistan and India. I did not notice at all that this large country was oriented towards tourism. Although she has something to show. But I think they have other goals. The signs here are mostly in Farsi and some English, although the latter is generally spoken badly. At the same time, you can see there, in a country that has been under sanctions for forty years, expensive cars, well-known watch brands, corresponding signs – the Iranians simply did not give a damn about the sanctions. And so you buy a cola, on the can of which it says Made in Iran. Or Snickers ice cream.

– Tell us about the literary event that became the reason for the trip. How seriously was writing Russia represented there – and what other states? Can we conclude that the Iranians want something more from Moscow than arms or fuel deals?

– It was the XXXIV Tehran Book Fair. I arrived there at the invitation of the Russian Book Union. Of the writers from Russia were Basinsky, Vodolazkin, Kulanov, Ivanova. The scale of the exhibition is amazing, to be honest. All this takes place on the territory of the unfinished Imam Khomeini Mosque. It was built as supposedly the largest mosque in the world, but it has not yet been completed, and now it is used as an exhibition complex, as far as I understand. Friday is a day off in Iran – and now I come to the exhibition, I am amazed. Crowds of people, thousands of people. Well, the figures are appropriate – more than 200 thousand publications, more than 1600 publishing houses. To be honest, I didn’t have time to walk around the entire exhibition – I was in the pavilion for foreign publishers. I talked with guys from Venezuela, Tajikistan, Turkey. At our Russian stand, work was constantly going on. There were both Iranians and our compatriots. For example, they played fairy-tale quests with children. People constantly came, they were interested in what and how in Russia.

I also spoke at Al-Zahr University, which is a women’s university. He spoke with students about Russian literature and Russian cinema. There was a rather curious atmosphere, plus we talked in English after. Again, very different students – different looks, different moods.

At the booth – I had three speeches – I was asked about Russian literature, about Russian culture. Separately, we talked with colleagues about Sholokhov, Tolstoy. I saw a very serious knowledge of Russian literature. The most popular Russian writers in Iran are, in my opinion, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Chekhov, Gorky, Sholokhov.

– If you were offered to live in Iran for a year, would you agree? And if he agreed, then for what?

– A year in Iran? Yes, of course, I would love to live. I really don’t know what to do with my children. How are they without me in Russia? But theoretically it would be interesting. I was exclusively in Tehran, and there is also Shiraz, there is the city of Yast (Yazd) with fire worshipers. Iran is a great heritage, colossal. And, of course, I want to study it. In the Golestan Palace, I hung at the mosaics for two hours – I examined them: it is amazingly done from the point of view of aesthetics, but there are many meanings, a lot of meanings. I say this to the fact that there is something to study in Iran. I’m afraid a year would not be enough for me. So, first of all, I would focus on the traditions of Iran, on its cultural heritage. I see it as one of the cradles of civilization. I would go to Persepolis, to Yast. Everything that concerns ancient Persia is extremely interesting to me.

– Have you seen the “non-ceremonial” side of life in Iran? Beggars, beggars, broken asphalt, houses with crumbling plaster? Or have the Tehran authorities “polished” it to the state of a postcard?

– I saw both beggars and beggars. They are in every metropolis in the world. But this is not evident. I didn’t notice any particular flair either. An ordinary city, divided, let’s say, into sectors – that is, you immediately understand whether this area is for the rich or for the poor. Green city – nature, by the way, is Crimean: plane trees, maples, mulberry trees, arborvitae, junipers. Unfortunately, I was only in the capital, but I really wanted to get to the city of Yazd, where temples of fire worshipers were preserved. In one of them, the fire has been burning for 1500 years. Can you imagine? Unfortunately, it’s a long way to go there – 10 hours, it seems, by car. In general, the Iranians themselves fly between cities on airplanes, as far as I understand. It’s not that expensive.

– Is Iran a worthy partner of Russia? Is it worth making such friends after the Europeans have “fallen away”?

– In Iran, they love Russia, Russians very much. It is a fact. They really blossom when they hear that you are Russian, and immediately react: “Oh, Russia!”. Iranians are good-natured people. At the same time, as far as I understand, this is a very good economic partner. We have something to sell to them, they have something to sell to us. I did not see any division between the two countries, between the two peoples. Felt very comfortable.

– Iranian ecotica – what is it like? What is done differently in this country than in Russia, China, Europe?

– Hmm, what’s wrong with Russia? They don’t drink coffee on the streets there – sometimes it’s hard to buy it. There are really strong contrasts. Sometimes you meet people who speak Russian and know Russian culture better than in Russia. You can eat very tasty saffron ice cream there. There is the best legacy of Zoroastrianism. There they drive non-alcoholic moonshine from tea roses. There you feel how a man of tradition collides with a man of the crowd – and now you think: who will win?