Park-e-Shahr, Tehran.
Tehranis play ping pong, chess and 5-a-side, use open air gyms, take romantic strolls or wander about in the hope of bumping into me and persuading me to sell my camera to them.
An old man watched with interest as i photographed some dove-shaped topiary (a recurring theme of the park, which has a peace monument centre-piece). An enquiring look received the universal finger-thumb gesture, or one of them, and other signing to spell it out clearly to the evidently illiterate stranger. We nodded to each other once the misunderstanding had been comprehended, and wandered off on our quests.
This place is a paradise in a city teeming with life, I was delighted to stroll here for part of the sunny winter afternoon, taking relief from the extraordinarily busy downtown streets, which I’d survived for just several hours so far.
Playing to a feline master. The earliest evidence of chess is from Sassanid Persia (c.600). The Persians are believed to have adapted it from a game of Indian origin.