Reminiscence from Persia- Part Two: Why Iran?

Iran, seemingly, was an odd choice for backpacking… but then a very few choices were available for choices.

Iran is often considered a hostile country… xenophobic, suspicious and overtly security conscious… add to it the western media portrayal… it runs a shiver down anybody’s spine… why would anybody dare to backpack such a dangerous country.

Iran, however, has a more humane dimension too… a heritage civilization… that has provided dynamism to the West and the East… to Islam, to Sufism, to India, to Central Asia, to Analtolia.

I weighed both the dimensions… did my own independent research on it… and decided that I wanted to go there… my decision was made even easier by many Kandaharis, who vouched for Iran and maintained that Iran was a sane and civilized country and all the western portrayal of it was either misinformation or disinformation.

Nevertheless I was still asked by many of my well-wishers… Why Iran?

Kandahar was poorly connected to the rest of the world… a weekly flight to India, UAE was all that it had to offer… and then, what was music to my ears… Iranian airlines Aesman Airways started a Mashhad-Kandahar flight. The choice- howsoever odd- therefore started sounding reasonable.

The other problem was visa… Kandahar has only 3 Consulates- Pakistan, India and Iran… for any other visa, I was required to send my passport to Kabul and wait for 15-20 days for getting visas affixed… and given the day-to-day changing scenario of Kandahar… I wasn’t prepared to part with my passport. Iran, in that sense, became even more sane a choice.

Iranian visa… nevertheless… is a difficult proposition. And I had to start building relations with the Iranian Consulate officials some 2-3 months in advance for a smooth visa procedure… it paid off and I got my Iranian visa in one day flat… and gratis. A luxury… for those who know- how difficult the visa process may be.

Armed with a visa and an air ticket… my first instinct was to buy some Iranian currency… Tomans/Rials/Khomeini.

Iranian currency is not only complicated… but also fairly deceptive… anyone who needs to travel to Iran… should master this deception. Rial is the basic unit of currency… but since the Islamic revolution, it got so very much devalued that you can get nothing – absolutely nothing- for a Rial. It is… for a purpose of comparison… a 5 paise of India… which technically exists but doesn’t buy you anything.

As the Rial devalued, Iranians found newer nomenclatures for their day to day used currencies. They invented Toman, which is equal to 10 Rials… So when they say 1 Toman… it means 10 Rials, 10 Tomans… it means 100 Rials.

The Iranian currency, however, didn’t stop its free fall… in years to come it got further and further devalued… and today, 1 US Dollar is equal to 12000 Rials… that is 1200 Tomans. And therefore Iranians had to devise something even more complicated to define their day-to-day monetary transaction…It was Khomeini… which is equal to 1000 Toman.

Khomeini was a political invention… it came into usage when 1 US Dollar became 10000 Rials (or 1000 Tomans)… it was Iranian way of showing to the world that a Khomeini was equal to a Dollar, a kind of political brawny point. So today 1 US Dollar is equal to 1.2 Khomeini.

This, however, complicated life for a traveler… people tend to speak in terms of either Tomans or Khomeinis… they seldom use Rials while transacting. In addition to this, many people tend to use Tomans in place of Khomeini… so while, 1 Khomeini is equal to 1000 Tomans… people may just say 1 Toman… assuming that thousand would be automatically added by the person in front.

So when I converted about 200 US Dollars… I was flooded with currency notes… of about 220000 Rials… I took some time out to make myself familiar with this confusing currency.

My next concern was getting some help at my port of arrival… I was told that the Iranian immigration, at times, is a pain. And the prospect of an Indian posted in Kandahar coming to Mashhad may be too much for the security consciousness of the Iranians. So if I had some help at Mashhad… my life would become easier.

India, however, did not have a diplomatic presence in Mashhad… but help was not more than a few phone calls away… the Afghan Consulate in Mashhad was very happy to arrange for protocol assistance at Mashhad. In fact, there officials invited me to visit the Consulate and have a lunch with them.

My drive to the Kandahar Airport was eventful… there were some IED explosions on the main Airport Highway… and therefore much of the traffic had been diverted… I was taken to the Airport by a dirt road – a dangerous option – but the only one at that point of time…

The dirt road took me through some old Kandahari village… far from the development… it was a time warp… of how Kandaharis used to live, say, a century or two ago. I took it as a good omen… my journey had started even before setting foot on Iranian soil.

At the airport… I realized that most of the passengers were Hazaras… Kandahar has a significant Hazara population… moreover… Uruzgan, province north to Kandahar, has again a huge Hazara population. Hazaras live a marginalized existence in the Pashtun lands… often being mistreated on daily basis… Iranian Consulate is a beacon of hope for them… it is their window to the outside world.

When the plane flew… there were religious chantings… Mashhad has a special place for Shiites… being Imam Reza Mausoleum.