Children’s writer Ekrami narrates “Adventures of Mashti Mamdali’s Car” on Tehran social culture

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Children’s writer Jamaleddian Ekrami, who is best known for his poem collections “The Wooden Horse” and “Hey! Hey! It’s Spring”, has recently completed his latest book “Adventures of Mashti Mamdali’s Car”.

The book, which will be published in ten volumes, delves into historical facts about Tehran’s social culture under the Qajar dynasty until the beginning of the reign of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Each volume contains three stories based on historical facts and set in Autol Khan, the dilapidated car of Mashti Mamdali, one of Iran’s first drivers, whose father was the driver of the steam car of the Qajar king, Nasser ad-Din Shah.

In the collection published by Neyestan Publications, Mashti Mamdali travels in old Tehran’s streets, telling funny stories about various occupations, people in bazaars, street performances, wedding ceremonies, traditional bathhouses and barbers.

The phenomena of photography, conscription and vaccination, and the issuance of birth certificates and the advent of carriages, cars, trains, and bicycles each have their special stories in the collection.

The stories of Iran’s first modern museum, theater and cable car are also narrated in the book, which has been authored based on “Old Tehran”, a comprehensive history of Tehran by the Iranian scholar Jafar Shahri.   

The book illustrated by Farhad Jamshidi is appropriate for children above 9 and young adults.

source: Tehran Times