I waited 30 years to visit Bam. When I did, it was a dream come true--and that was in December. As the reports came through, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of loss, not only for a magnificent city but for the engaging children I had met, and friends we had made whose hospitality abounded--plump Bam dates, full of flavour, sticky syrupy cakes, sweet black tea--and in the nearby town of Mahan a mouth-watering lunch of local specialities spread on a floor strewn with rugs, a blazing ...