BackBeauty, brawn and fine wine in Iran
Poetry, fashion, and nose-jobs in a deeply contradictory country
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Hefty men in delicately embroidered, snug-fitting leather breeches, swinging huge wooden clubs, or spinning like dervishes on fast-forward. A serious-faced master beating out a throbbing rhythm on a drum, his head raised, belting out full-throated praises of Allah, and then chanting lyrical verses from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. The walls crammed tight with very old photos of bodybuilders with puffed chests and oversized biceps, a beatific picture of Imam Ali (Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law) perched right on top—very handsome, piercing eyes, loose robes, a halo radiating around his face—flanked on either side by portraits of Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei in their usual black turbans and dense beards.
It is one of the coolest places I have visited. I am at a zurkhaneh (Persian for “house of strength") in Isfahan, mesmerized by these Iranian studmuffins performing an ancient warrior sport which originated in pre-Zoroastrian times, more than 3,000 years ago, and has evolved over centuries, absorbing influences from latter day Islam, Sufism, literary epics, doses of mysticism, and what have you. It is so out there that I struggle for reference points—it is an unlikely meeting ground of not only akhada-style physical fitness, but also poetry, music, religion (Imam Ali is regarded as their patron) and ethics, for the objective is as much to beef up muscular strength as to grow human character.
That is the thing about Iran—everything is layered and nuanced. Ancient traditions linger on with current beliefs—for example, the Zoroastrian festival of Nowruz is celebrated full blast by a predominantly Muslim people—and seeming contradictions happily coexist.
So standard-issue photos of Khomeini and Khamenei punctuate the landscape, never letting you forget that this is a strict Islamic nation, and then you go to a colleague’s home for dinner and you are served fine wine, and the Iranian women are in stylish, Western dresses looking stunning. As for me, I have done so much research on Iran-appropriate clothing that I land up in a shapeless figure-hiding kurta and sharara with a chunni on my head.
We attend an Iran 101 presentation and learn of “white marriages"—i.e., couples living together without marriage—which is a growing urban trend. Since bars and nightclubs don’t exist, “underground parties" are routine, and an estimated 70% of young city folk drink alcohol. Women aren’t allowed to sing in public, but we hear their voices—it’s called “underground music"—in restaurants.
The “forced hijab" in public—a telling choice of words—is sending beauty product sales skyrocketing, and cosmetic surgery is a major trend. We spot so many women with taped noses—nose jobs are so common, they don’t even bother to hide it—that pretty soon we are playing a silent has-she-or-hasn’t-she game. We chat with two lovely young ladies—one still has a fresh bandage on her nose—and learn that the fashion is to shorten and narrow the nose, sometimes with a little upturn at the end. The ladies deftly turn the tables on us, and right there in the middle of touring the Ali Qapu palace, we get an impromptu face analysis—they suggest not only a bit of nose shaping for me and my friend, but also a facelift, and pointing earnestly at our eyes, some urgent work on the bags underneath. Ouch. They urge us to get it done here as “Iranian surgeons are very experienced". I have no doubt they are, and I worry that unless men start putting their noses to the scalpel, Iran will soon become a nation of men with long noses and women with shorter pinched ones.
Nose jobs aside, there is a keen appreciation of beauty in general—in architecture, in gardens, in art, in poetry—so much so, it seems to be deeply embedded in their souls. The historical monuments we visit are drop-dead gorgeous—two of my favourites are the Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz, with its vibrantly coloured stained-glass windows, and the Sheikh Lutf Allah mosque in Isfahan, where creeping daylight creates a peacock’s tail in the dome—and I would readily go back just to take in more of that.
But it is the everyday presence of poetry—excruciatingly beautiful and thought-provoking—that I find most remarkable and touching. We visit the 14th century poet Hafez’s resting place in Shiraz—it is early morning, a gentle breeze blows, there is a modest pavillion under which his mausoleum sits, pure translucent marble with beautiful calligraphy—and the whole atmosphere somehow feels spiritual. People are touching his tomb, and then seeking answers from his poems—the custom is called “fal", you open a random page and that poem will guide you through your current problem. Of course, it is ambiguous and open to interpretation, but I feel that the very act of so many people reading so much poetry on a regular basis would have a cumulative enlightening effect.
Hafez’s guidance for me? It may be mangled in translation, but this is what I got: To focus intensely on my own work, undistracted by the demands of others, and that will help change the world!
Perhaps the most intriguing encounter for me is with a mullah, my first ever, at a seminary in the Imam mosque in Isfahan. His job is “cultural communication"—I think of him as the PR Mullah—and he is a good-looking man in his mid-30s, very well spoken, a gentle twinkle in his eyes. He studied engineering before switching to religion, a decision that upset his father. As part of his religious programme, he studied theology, logic, Arabic literature and jurisprudence.
I ask him what will bring peace to the region. Eyes twinkling, he gives the expected answer first—the arrival of the 12th Imam will bring peace to the whole world—but then he pauses, strokes his beard, and says that if every country in the region focuses on its own interests, undistracted by the demands of bigger powers, then peace will follow.
It’s eerie. That sounds a lot like Hafez’s advice to me.
Radha Chadha is one of Asia’s leading marketing and consumer insight experts. She is the author of the best-selling book The Cult Of The Luxury Brand: Inside Asia’s Love Affair With Luxury.
Also Read | Radha Chadha’s previous Lounge columns.
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