Part 2 – Iran As I Knew it : Khorramshahr

By Colonel V K Bali, Retd

The last episode covered the Voyage from Bombay to the Iranian port of Khorramshahr in the winter of 1959…Persian gulf and the gulf countries were evolving and very basic infrastructure had just started coming up….So, the oil and gas rigs were a recurring sight along the voyage along the shore.

Upon arrival at the Khorramshahr Jetty we were driven straight to a hotel just a few furlongs away on the boulevard facing the river. The hotel was situated over a beautiful location commanding a royal presence. The hotel had a grand entrance and spread over a big area bang in the middle of a garden with Persian architecture which are geometrical in design and incomplete without water fountains.

It was a two storeyed building and our corner suite was on the first floor….a wide curving marble staircase led from the ground floor to the first floor. While climbing up, the bell hops scooted in front of us with our luggage..a large number of bags and suitcases. It was a comfortable suite of generous proportions and with complete period furniture.

As the sun started to set, we got watching the beautiful view of it on the river front. Suddenly there was a tap on the door…the manager had sent a message that our dinner table was reserved on the rooftop garden restaurant….and requested that we be there after half an hour.

We were guided to our table for the dinner…there were three of us – dad, me and my kid sis…I was 9 and sis 7 by then.
While being escorted to the table, we saw a number of belly dancers performing…while looking back I think my dad must have felt awkward walking into a belly dance performance with two kids in tow.
He would have rather enjoyed better without us around

Iranians eat their dinner early in the evening…..my father ordered roast meat, nan and an Iranian salad dish called ‘ Chilokebab..that consisted of greens, boiled beans, meats and a sprinkle of virgin Italian olive oil and garnishing
We really enjoyed the dinner.

Here for the first time we saw the Iranians gents and ladies from close quarters. The Iranian men were by and large tall, handsome hunks with Grecian features mostly…while the women were stylish, boldly dressed up in modern western dresses right from their stockings and upwards…they drank whisky and smoked cigarettes in longish holders…some of these ladies were gambling on tables with piles of money on their tables as stakes, while drinking and smocking.

To us kids, it was a cultural shock hitting squarely between our two eyes….don’t know bout dad…as he was a man of the world those days and I suppose he must not have been ill disposed to such a vibrant evening.

One of these ladies who caught my eyes was quite tall, aristocratic looking with a natural commanding presence…what looked so amazing to me was her seemingly long graceful endless legs as she sauntered past our table.

Soon our day ended with us walking down to our room to retire for the night. Our dad told us that next day we were to visit Basra, the Iraqi town across the river for a day of sightseeing before proceeding to Tehran by train day.

The next episode will cover the visit to the Iraqi town of Basra across the river facing Khorramshahr with it’s Indian connect and it’s legendary auto thieves.