goggly

A sign of a man and woman in a bedroom is enough for Iranian TV censor authorities to fudge the pictures. During my three day stay in Tehran , I only had BBC, Rai - Italian and DW German TV channels but they all went kaput as soon as there was any mention of Iran Nuclear story or a sight of man and woman in privacy. Equally surprise for me to read negative media coverage about India in English newspapers that are nothing but reproduction of Govt bulletins and wired news from elsewhere. I guess Iran is now reacting to India's coming under pressure of USA to ditch their old trusted ally . Topics ranging from ‘India losing out oil field project to China’ to ‘State sponsored perpetration of religious minority in Gujarat’ to ‘ Use of Endosulphon on cotton pesticides in Kerala making it as another Bhopal’ conveyed the tone of Iran Govt. Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti celebration at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Tehran had no Iranian govt presence. Chief Guest was a Sudan ambassador....

4am - plane touched ATKH airport. I wonder why emirates do not announce it as Ayatollah Khomeini airport but just as a Tehran airport. Well before a visitor gets a glimpse of Iran, all passengers are made to walk through a long corridor whose width is barely enough for one's girth and hand luggage. Either side of the corridor has a wall that stretches up to the ceiling. Only couple of emergency glass doors on the left side alleviates the fear of any stampede if some untoward incident were to happen. On either side of the walls lie protruding camera lenses. Rhythmic stamping of 400 odd feet in combination of click-clack of luggage caster wheels made me wonder if I was a part of some rebel group who was being taken for an execution at wee hours. In my previous visits to Iran, I did not encounter any problem with my visa but this time their computer did not have our names. That meant spending another hour at the window that would open and close by the whims of a visa issuer a...