Whenever I thought of Iran, I thought of Ahmedi-Najad, Khomeini, Islamic Revolution, Ayatollahs, and being in Bahrain, Shiasim. When advertised as a tourist destination, Iran is a vital destination at “Religious Travel Agencies” – a prosperous business in Bahrain providing pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites. Even those are either Shia or Sunna oriented: the Sunni ones being restricted to Mecca & Madina, while the Shia ones have a longer list that include all the shrines of the Shia Imams, making Mashhad, Iran along with Damscus, Syria the main two sites of Shia pilgrimage, especially with the inaccessibility of the shrines in Iraq.

I frequently hear of people leaving or coming back from what they call “Zeyara” – literally meaning “a visit”- to Mashhad, where the tomb of the eighth Shia Imam is. The scope of my imagination of a visit to Iran never exceeded visiting the Shrine in Mashhad, Sohan Sweets brought from vistors of Qom, and religious police requesting women wear their Hijabs in a Sharia-Compliant manner.

Last week I paid a visit to the Iranian Gallery held at the Bahrain Museum’s Art Society during the Iranian Cultural Week. There wasn’t much: some paintings, some photographs, and some calligraphy. It’s the photographs that caught my attention. Shots that captured Iran the land, Iran the people, Iran the nature, and Iran the history. Greenery, snow, mountains, rivers, and beaches. There were pictures of sites and squares whose ancient architectural beauty reminded me of Europe, places I had no associated names for, or even the vaguest idea of what they resembled.

I took the two give-away CDs and the brochure and headed home with a mission. I need to know about Iran, without preconceived ideas, without Ahmedji-najad or Ayatoallah Khomeini.  I browsed through the CDs, both – like the gallery- are humble efforts of spreading awareness about a culture overtaken by politics. They were not cutting edge technology DVDs, I have seen better in term of design and technology, but their message was well-delivered. I now wanted to see more photographs of Iran, Wikied their history and main archeological sites, and browsed for Iranian pictures on Flickr.

Maybe I want to pay the country a visit after all. It is neither far nor expensive, and it will be an experience. I do want to see those northern mountains and visit the local bazaars.

My feelings after the cultural week reminded me of how I felt once I finished reading “The Kite Runner” by Afghani-born Khalid Hossaini. Afghanistan had suddenly transformed from “The Land of Taliban & Bin-Laden” to a beautiful land of culture, people and beautiful landscape. Local newspapers report that Bahrain might be arranging a Cultural Week in Iran in the near future, I hope Iranian people find the event as insightful, a step forward to seeing Bahrain behind the (Persian Gulf vs. Arabian Gulf) debate.

I chose to quote and translate the first paragraph of the brochure:

“A nation’s culture and art is a beautiful evidence for centuries of experiment, taste and creativity. It is a heritage of successive generations until our present day. It is the product of human’s soul in search for perfection, and an expression of his ability of creativity. Since the language of culture and art is a global language that bypasses all borders and limits, it is the best mechanism of dialogue and dealing with other nations and people”.

Pictures captured from Cultural Week CDs.