The controversial inauguration

After working till 2AM last night, I woke up just after 6AM and after fixing up just some of the scripts for today, we headed to the Parliament, "Majlis" of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On our way, I saw tons of security forces getting ready to crush down any opposition that would be defiant enough to go on to protest that was being called on by the green supporters. The ceremony process went on smoothly as I thought, starting around 9:15AM and the only problem I had was getting the simultaneous translation service, but luckily go the earphones right after the Majlis speaker started to give his speech. The speech of the inaugurated President was not fancy, but it was enough to have a story. When we headed out from the Majlis after I took my standing report, it was only 10:30AM. We got back to our office an hour after and I was scrambling to work on the bunch of stories and reports I had to give out. With the help of brilliant colleagues in Tokyo, everything went smoothly. The other concern was how the protests were going to turn out, but it seems that nothing crazy had happened and I felt relived that no one had been killed... according to reports at least... I was getting more and more confident that perhaps I would be able to take my wife out to a trip though it would have been impossible if a major development took place today. After recording my radio report, I also had a request to do my report in English, but feeling much better, I had no problem taking the offer.


in the Majlis...