[RJ411]

Fantastic thread and gave us a wonderful insight about Iran.
Iran is one of the most misunderstood countries in the world. Now that the western world is opening its gates, we should be hearing more about the culture and day to day life. When I see this thread it somewhat reminds me of the other thread that was written about Israel.

[shreyascashyap]

Originally Posted by plimsollmark

Hey a nice thread Shreyas. Good to see you take some time out and pen down your experiences. I am also in the offshore industry and in the marine side of it. Mostly working on smaller construction and vessels and also a drillship and involved in a lot of things but off late on a Dive support vessel.

Here are a few pics for the readers here !

Thanks mark! Those pics of the bridge brought back fond memories. On the way back to shore after wrapping up my work in the rig, I was on a Phillipino boat. Small one, just used for hauling fresh water and some containers. Had about 7-8 crew on board.

I walked up to the bridge and the person who was manning the bridge was kind enough to explain about the working of all the instruments on board. He even let me take a few mins at the wheel!!! Of course, it was quite safe on the open sea and no other ship on the radar within a 30 mile radius. After driving cars for so long, it was weird to turn the rudder for like 3-4 turns and see no effect on the ship's course!

[airbender]

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

I don't think this is a topic to discuss here yet there are Hindu temples in Zahedan, and Bandar Abbas, Iskon restaurant in Tehran, and the 800 or so Sikhs in Tehran and a few thousand in Zahedan have a Gurudwaras of their own in both cities, https://www.worldgurudwaras.com/iran...e-teheran-iran

Rahul

I could have googled it too which I did years back. But as shreyas had an first hand account of the place I wanted to know from him. If you thought this was off-topic then you would have stayed away.

We get long term consulting projects in some middle eastern and west European countries. People are hell scared to go to these countries. That is why I asked.

I once got an project in Slovakia before I was married and turned it down as I did not know much about the place. I would love to work in a country like Iran. But some people do not like to be told you must wear a head scarf.

I do not understand why talking about religion is such a red mark for people like you.

[airbender]

Originally Posted by shreyascashyap

Iran is predominantly a Muslim country with 98% of the population Muslim. While they have a rule in the constitution that the cops cannot question a person's faith or haul you in front of a court for not following Islamic scriptures and placing your faith in another religion, it's not very conducive for people to practice other faiths. People still identify themselves as Muslim even though they have confided in me that they are agnostic/atheist and don't follow any particular rules or regulations. There are 2-3 Hindu temples I know of. However, what I have noticed is that even though it's majorly a Muslim country, it is not as strict an atmosphere like say - Saudi Arabia. You don't have speakers all over the city blaring prayers 5 times a day, you are free to eat during ramzan during the day, shops don't close every few hours for prayers and so on. The people are also more open about religion and are able to have mature, adult conversations regarding faith. I've had many unfortunate experiences in Saudi when it came to involving the local populace in religious discussions, so this was a welcome change.

Thanks a lot. So it's better than Saudi but not as good as USA. This is the first time I hear a balanced opinion about Iran. People having something in common with Iran equate it with USA and others with Saudi. Indians are typical. They think going to country and working there itself is the hallmark of freedom.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by airbender

I once got an project in Slovakia before I was married and turned it down as I did not know much about the place. I would love to work in a country like Iran. But some people do not like to be told you must wear a head scarf.

When we do not know things we depend on news and the internet, and news can be paid news, or controlled news. The west can be biased against Iran, or ignore it totally, and with that help Iran is also very capable of controlling news, like keeping the Feb 2014 major border skirmish with Pakistan out of world eyes.

Discussing with people who have actually experienced and travelled there is the actually the best option.

About 30 years ago we used to have lot of Iranian students in India, in the mid 70's many Iranian Christians migrated out, and their choice destinations were Germany, India and Canada, my city Pune had many of them. A decade later many from India at least started returning.

Originally Posted by airbender

I do not understand why talking about religion is such a red mark for people like you.

It is not, but this is basically an automotive forum.

Rahul

[airbender]

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

Discussing with people who have actually experienced and travelled there is the actually the best option.

That is exactly what I am doing.

Originally Posted by shreyascashyap

The point of writing this blog was two-fold. The first was to provide a basic understanding of the technical aspects involved in offshore drilling and exploration and the more important one being to provide first hand account of how life in Iran unfolds on a day to day basis.

It's the second and more important one I am talking about. No point in wasting our time on this. Lets leave it there.