Last winter, in early December, an announcement was made over the media that reminded me of a very important event in childhood: Schools were closed. Back in the old days, growing up in Tehran, we would sometimes get enough snow so that the city had no choice but to let us free for a day or more. We’d wake up in the morning feeling the heavy silence from outside, jump out of bed and turn on the radio. Upon the announcement we’d reschedule our activities of the day to include snowballs, snow forts, snowmen, frostbite and the obligatory snow shovel. We would get back in the evening, check the clouds for any thinning spots, and pray so that we may be spared again from spending the next day in our dreadful classrooms.
But this time it was different and it wasn’t because I was no longer going to school. It was because there was no snow. Well there was some on the mountains but definitely not on the streets, roofs and backyards. Instead, schools were closed because of pollution. The air in Tehran is pretty grimy and in winter, because of inversion, it sinks to science fiction levels.
Let me illustrate. I took this picture on that very day from a location in Northern Tehran, a steep street that is “on” a mountain. I’m probably 500 meters away from the peak. Do you see it?
Well…schools remained closed for another couple of days. In fact almost the entire city was shutdown for the next two days. Government offices were closed, banks and post offices were closed, some private firms closed, and I was wondering what the kids were going to reschedule to now.
The next picture was taken from the same spot, about 20 days later, when we finally got some rain the night before. Now you do.
