Temporary Bride
به زبان فارسی
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Two Cities, Two Taxis - Part 1
28-Nov-2010
Yazd, Iran
I woke up frightened. The speakers around me crackled and filled our wing with a wailing so long and high and desperate that I instinctively drew my knees in.
The thick carpeting in the airport smelled of damp and the air conditioning was on too high. All around me people - men with blank faces and large, tightly wrapped, waddling women -shuffled their way to the designated prayer rooms in the corner clutching overstuffed plastic cases and yellowed travelling pillows. From the corners of their bags poked gold-lettered packages of regional sweets - sticky pistachio nougat from Esfahan, honey and saffron brittle from Qom - gifts that would likely be tipped onto oval serving plates and passed around later that evening with tea.
The row of seats along the window where I sat, packed with businessmen and families just moments before, had emptied. I’d heard the call to prayer many times before - in Istanbul, in Damascus, in the trash-ridden streets around East London - but never so cold and piercing as this. Everything from the poor-quality recording, the cheap tinny echo, and the severe, red-faced distortions that I could feel vibrating between my teeth filled me with a strange, lonely revulsion.
I reached up and realised that my scarf had slipped off my head while I’d been sleeping. With a sense of panic, I yanked it sharply back into place. I rubbed my eyes and felt the gritty residue of the mascara I had applied carefully the previous evening - wanting to look nice for my trip, my first ever trip to Iran - crumble between my fingers.
A man with sunglasses perched on top of his thick, gelled hair sat facing me on the opposite side of the room. I could feel him staring at me and knew enough not to look up. I didn’t need him to come and sit next to me, to hear dull stories about visiting his cousin in Germany, or to anticipate the moment when he’d misread my lack of inhibition and lean in, perhaps putting his hand on my knee and thinking that it was because of him that I was confident and open, a relaxed kind of girl.
| Recently by Temporary Bride | Comments | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The only room this way - Part 3 | 7 | Sep 06, 2012 |
| The only room this way - Part 2 | 4 | Sep 04, 2012 |
| The only room this way - Part 1 | 4 | Aug 30, 2012 |
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Temp Brida jaan, one more thing
by Monda on Mon Nov 29, 2010 03:08 PM PSTMy daughter and her generation could finally get to Really read about the Iranian culture and other places in the world, in the exact way that you tell your stories. Your wiritings are infinitely more interesting to all readers, than classroom material. Or what parents often give their kids to read about their background cultures.
Plus, your writing is not only reporting, but it's mixed with lots of functional wisdom from a non-Iranian perspective, pretty much as my daughter's would be when/if she gets to visit Iran, as an adult. Your writing contains much more that I could ever inform her with, because most of your observations are, my mental "wallpaper". Very Endearing to me.
Too Good not to turn into a book!
by Monda on Mon Nov 29, 2010 02:08 PM PSTMy fingers and toes are honestly crossed for that to happen! JJ's so right.
Faramarz has many valid points as well : ))
A book?
by Temporary Bride on Mon Nov 29, 2010 01:27 PM PSTThere may be something on the horizon, cross your fingers for me...
Hard to believe it's nearly a year since I wrote my first post on Iranian.com - thank you for supplying a perfect 'testing ground' JJ.
F'marz - Maybe that's why we like each other's stories so much? Because I reversed your journey from the old world to the new one? I can just imagine an Iranian Fabio - a Tehrani guy wearing tight jeans with a big 'fashen' hairdo.
Monda jaan - thank you for always reading, commenting and encouraging. x
An Intriguing Journey
by Faramarz on Mon Nov 29, 2010 08:18 AM PSTWelcome back T-Bride!
Beautiful story with such exquisite details.
It is interesting how your romantic journeys took you from Canada to East London, Damascus, Istanbul and Yazd. Most of us took our journeys in the opposite direction and in the pursuit of a brighter future!
The last paragraph felt so familiar; a chance to escalate a casual encounter to a romance by an innocent touch of the knee or the shoulder! You have seen and mastered all the tricks!
Please do write a book. Not only because you write so well and have experienced so much, but also we Iranian men have never been featured as the subject of a romantic novel in the west.
We desperately need our Fabio!
Book?
by Jahanshah Javid on Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:02 AM PSTDo you have a book? Are you writing one? You should. You're too good to stop here. Although it works as a testing ground :)
Temp Bride, So good to read you again!
by Monda on Sun Nov 28, 2010 06:51 PM PSTLoved it all but specifically this part: ...putting his hand on my knee and thinking that it was because of him that I was confident and open, ... Such nice way to put it :o)
Beautiful
by Jahanshah Javid on Sun Nov 28, 2010 06:46 PM PSTVery much enjoyed it. You're such a beautiful writer. Thank you.