Marjan Kamali’s debut book, Together Tea, is a heartwarming rendition of the dichotomy of displacement and belongingness. The author explores this difficult predicament through an Iranian family and especially through the lives of the mother and daughter, Darya and Mina, respectively. The Rezayis are forced to immigrate to the US after the 1979 Revolution that lead to the establishment of a new Islamic regime in Iran. Darya, who’s an avid mathematician has to forgo her career plans and become accustomed to the life of being a home maker. However, she has her own maths club with two other women of her neighbourhood through which she gets to exercise her love for numbers and complicated equations. She’s also become intent on finding the most eligible husband for Mina. Mina on the other hand is torn between the frustration over her mother’s incessant obsession with her marriage, and the inability to make a conclusive decision regarding her career. Then one day when Darya and Mina decide to go to Tehran despite their family’s reservations about it, they discover each other and their relationship in a new light.
Marjan gives a detailed insight into the family’s lives in 1996 New York City and 1978 Tehran. Through the entire narrative, the author has kept Iran as the real protagonist. She has layered the story with its history, its effervescence and the political upheaval that wronged its very own people. She has captured the conspicuous changes that have occurred in Tehran, pre and post, the Islamic Revolution. The curtailment of women’s rights and their freedom to choose and express themselves, is palpable through Mina’s experience when she goes back to Iran in 1996. Juxtaposed to that is Bita, Mina’s friend living her life to the fullest and scandalously in Tehran, albeit discreetly. The author has handled these conflicting realities in the sincere conversations between Bita and Mina.
But, at the heart of this story, is the tender, often fraught and feckless relationship of Darya and Mina. The author has deftly portrayed the nuances of their hyphenated existence. The feeling of belongingness remains nebulous and unattainable for Darya and Mina. Coming to terms with their displaced identities and the bittersweet actualities of Iran has been done ever so delicately by the author. As with her more popular book, ‘The Stationary Shop of Tehran’, Marjan has infused this book too, with the sights and smells of Iranian culture and cuisine. Indulge in the tantalising aromas of ghormeh sabzi and baklava as Marjan takes you on this sublime sojourn of love, relationships and misplaced longings.
~ JUST A GAY BOY. 🥰
the shiny diaries 