Mother factor...

I started writing this post last week. That day I was writing that I had spent some time talking to one of my older relatives who was telling me about her mother in law, Mina, whom I knew only as an old granny. Mina nənə (nənə means grandmother in Azerbaijani) had to take care of her big family with many kids after her husband passed away quite early (pre, during and right after World War II period). 

One of the stories is that the river that was crossing Sheki had no bridge at a time and once the water was coming from mountains it was hard to cross it. School was on the other side of the river. So Mina nənə and probably other mothers would take their children on their shoulders and help them to cross the river. This illiterate but hard-working and wise woman and mother would do anything for her children to study. Later Mina nənə's all four sons and one daughter (out of four) came to Baku and got higher education to do a professional career in Baku and  Sheki. This culture of self sacrificing mothers is quite common in Azerbaijan as anywhere in the world.

Post was expecting to get finalised when I had to make a break...to have a baby last Sunday. Today is the 7th day that our baby boy has joined our family :).   

As you can imagine I am quite grateful and emotional these days. Thinking and talking about mothers brings almost tears to my eyes. 

This post is devoted to all mothers around the world. God bless them all...one post is not enough to describe everything that mothers do for us first to give us life then to bring us up and later help us throughout our lives. Another thing that is so common in Azerbaijan is that parents continue helping their children physically and financially until they can...

Below in the picture is Mina nənə with two of her grandchildren. I had different post where I said that Mina nənə had many grandchildren. In this picture one her right is my mother. It is great to see that she is so happy on the picture (I asked her the reason she can't remember :), little boy is my other relative. Mothers like Mina nənə and my mother are role models for me and my sisters these days. Their wishes and dreams always came second if not third to dreams and ambitions of their children. In today's world we modern mothers are trying hard to balance wishes of our children and wishes of our own or spouses etc. Things around us have developed a lot but questions are still there and did not become easy when we talk about bringing up children.

Anyways. Be well and remember to take a good care of your loved ones especially mothers. Do not take them for granted.    

Old and kind Sheki...

Today's post is a gentle "reminder" that this blog is actually about Azerbaijan with many posts devoted to the town that my parents come from and I associate myself with, Sheki. 

If you happen to visit Azerbaijan...

Why Azerbaijan you might ask. Whats so special. 

Everywhere is special. (majority of people in the Orient believe to be philosophers by birth or talk with philosophical hint :) 

In addition to anything else in Azerbaijan you would get a chance to get rid of stereotypes, well maybe. You would be thinking that you are visiting post-Soviet, Muslim country neighbouring Russia, Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Armenia and you would form certain opinions and then once you visit you would see how everything can blend together and it would be so hard or almost impossible to identify, associate with something or somewhere in particular; you would notice a lot of similarities and differences and end up thinking: "what a blend - hard to understand and grasp and hard not to get charmed." 

Sheki is a small and proud town in Azerbaijan that is blessed with beautiful nature, warm hearted people that like to make witty jokes and speak with "sweet" dialect that might have caused them to have specially delicious cuisine including distinctive confectionery products.

So if you are in Azerbaijan you need to spend time in the regions including couple of days in Sheki to put or at least try to put together "jigsaw puzzle" of this country.      

Below is picture of Sheki that I took last summer...

Be well...

Love is...no...should be in the air...

Nowadays it is so depressing to say the least to watch news. Wars, killings, people suffering, people destroying lives of others. Nobody is happy about what the other is doing or not doing. Although its XXI century people seem wilder, more sophisticated in their ways to distract, manipulate, reach their goals whatever the price. 

Today many people around the world greet this day as Valentine Day and have another reason to be more attentive to those they love. 

We all know that there is nothing more supreme than love and its not just about love between the two. I find it hard to understand that to some its natural to love their other half but then be quite intolerant to many around.

I wish that people would be kinder and have more sympathy to each other. Anywhere in the world. 

I decided to post pictures of two sculptures of my spouse, Teymur Rustamov to this note. One is about peace and the other about love, harmony, tranquillité.

"Swallows" by Teymur Rustamov

"Man and Woman" by Teymur Rustamov

Galoshes and not only...

Dear All, thank you for each and every of you for visiting my blog. Life has been too busy and to my regret I wasn't able to update the blog as often as I should have.

The major question now is what do I write about, what do I start with. There have been so many events and emotions in Azerbaijan, life was moving on sometimes with joy, sometimes with grief and as always there are more questions than answers. In light of major global events of the world sometimes every day passions seem so small and so not important. But then its life and it goes on...daily...

I have two pictures that I took in Sheki back in May 2012. These are pictures of galoshes and boots that are worn to work in the garden. Once the work is done in order not to mess the other part of the yard the shoes are changed. While owners of the shoes thought that those were their ugliest possessions I loved the way they looked and purpose they served. The work, tools to do the work can never be ugly.

Already in February people in Sheki started to get their gardens ready for spring. Those shoes are back in fashion and serve a wonderful purpose.

Wishing all of you more of pleasant outdoor chores to feel the spring approaching. Be well.

Everything grannies could tell…

I took below photo in Sheki sometime in spring…Unfortunately I was there that time for funeral…Of course as always everyone was visiting the family to express their condolences and try to soothe the pain…

At some point when there were fewer people and everyone was chit-chatting with each other those two grannies fascinated by another spring of their life started to look outside the window and continue to philosophize about rules of life and nature…It was so adorable to observe them.

There is so much to hear from those grannies…But one has to be in a special mood. No rush, no mobiles, no internet, just stories of how with different generations and time substance of things or people did not really change…but most of the time just started to look different…  

Everything becomes a history…everyone becomes a history…

I have drafted this post long ago...sharing only now...

Last week of May with its festive Eurovision final became a history. Thankfully everything went smooth and safe and many people had unforgettable adrenalin when watching the shows live.

On May 28th we celebrated Republic Day in Azerbaijan. We remembered ambitions of our Democratic Republic back in 1918 and had fireworks to celebrate the day in 2012 when Azerbaijan is free to make choices to develop its independent country further.

On 5 June we had five very young soldiers killed on the border. In light of these killings everything else looses its importance. Everything else looses meaning and one doesn't find strength or wish to write about anything else…Let the boys rest in peace…we share grief of their families, especially parents, especially mothers…

Talk art…talk poetry…talk music…talk Azerbaijan…

Today I want to say that atmosphere in the capital of Azerbaijan Baku is all about getting ready to Eurovision song contest…

Baku has never seen so much investment and rehabilitation…the truth is that during Soviet era not much of an investment was really done…today city is rushing not only to offer the comfort to its residents but also to be ready to welcome the guests of the contest. Greetings guest in the best way possible comes with blood and hospitality can get to extremes in Azerbaijan. At the same time looking at this philosophically deadlines do always well in many circumstances...what is invested will stay to enjoy ever after…

Small digression if you would allow: 

One of my favorite jokes as a student and something that I think really works is “when someone asks the student how long it would take him to learn Chinese, the student replies…when is the exam?” J This concept works with many things and current deadlines are these two weeks of May when more than ever before guests are expected in Baku… 

I think like any person every country has its strengths and weaknesses….art is definitely the strength of Azerbaijan…poets, musicians, dancers,  female composers, male composers (have to put this link as well), sculptors (artists) and definitely singers are the treasures of Azerbaijan…

I am posting a link to the video of Azerbaijan’s Eurovision song. This performance is in Azerbaijani and includes traditional performance of another strength and treasure of Azerbaijan, mugam. Mugam is enjoyed by connoisseurs of art and distinctive music and recognized by   UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Enjoy!...and be well...      

Discover Azerbaijan...

Today I am posting random pictures and a video and will give some captions to each...

This is a photo of a typical window in Sheki...

This is a photo of a tractor that I took last time we were travelling back from Sheki. I don't think it was abandoned but probably parked.

This photo I called colours of Soviet Union. Popular in Soviet times "zhiguli" and another tractor look so Soviet, although I love the colours...

This is a video of "Oil rocks" island of Azerbaijan. This island was made in 1949 by people for world's first!!! offshore oil exploration. 

Now when Azerbaijan is rushing to turn from a developing to developed country I am thinking to myself how developed it must have been to have an island like  "Oil rocks" back in 1949...

Old tractors and zhigulis can seem like a burden although to me they are all part of history...while we all happily changed seats from zhigulis to newly made cars, for some reason I don't think I would ever change the way the windows of my house look in Sheki...it is interesting how there is a thin line between something that becomes burdensome and outdated and something that becomes historic and antique...

While some scenes of the video may seem "shocking" and "polluted" it is important to keep things in perspective...

I hope you enjoy the process of discovering Azerbaijan...
Be well. 

Short and sweet or its so good to be spring or spring is on my mind :)...

If you are wondering about the title of the post then I want to say that it conveys my feelings this April...spring is finally here and for some reason this year I feel it more acutely than I could remember feeling before. Birds singing, trees rushing to blossom, flowers opening up everywhere, longer days, warmer sun all this is so beautiful and wonderful. What a special season spring is...

Spring in Baku is usually short and summer comes in quite quickly. I am sure poets must have compared spring to childhood or youth...since all pass so quickly...

I think there are two types of people...the ones that start noticing beauty and creating beauty around them after they are better financially and the ones that whatever the income, they would still create beauty and neatness around them. In Sheki and not only there one can see many homes and gardens that are very sophisticated in their neatness and order with minimum investment and maximum hard work. In spring this becomes particularly obvious.

Unfortunately I don't have spring photos of Sheki (haven't travelled there recently) to share but I am sharing with you photos that I am taking now and then in Baku while wandering with kids. Excuse me for quality as these are quick photos taken so that kids don't do something naughty while there is no attention.

Happy spring everyone...

Baku boulevard...

Philharmonie garden...

People behind the scenes…II…

This is my second post devoted to people behind the scenes.

I had the post with the same title that I wrote back in 2007. Its 2012 now and I have the same “feelings” about the topic.

In March when I had a short visit to Sheki on our way back we stopped to see if there was anything we wanted to buy from those who sell what they make at home…I belong to that part of people that are should I say less paranoiac about “safety” of home made food stuff sold here and there while you travel around the regions. Probably its life time immunity earned by numerous tea drinking sessions that I have enjoyed while traveling back and forth to Sheki and not only. Therefore keen to experiment we took what seemed interesting and tempting and continued our way.

I asked the seller and probably his son if I could take their photo. They were quite surprised by the question especially when I said that I would post it in internet. Father started smiling and almost laughing. His smile was open and kind.

This post is devoted to all those who with honest work of their hands earn their piece of bread and bring something special and something else to homes of others. To that circle when one helps the other, when skills of one complete the skills of other, to the world where everyone needs someone else…

P.S. When you travel to Azerbaijan you will meet on your path many people with the same open and kind smile....

March in Azerbaijan...

Although I wasn’t able to write as often as I would wish to that does not mean that March has passed unnoticed…Quite often I felt the urge to write and today is the day )

This post is devoted to the month of March, how special it is for Azerbaijan.

Those who know Azerbaijan would know that the month starts with us celebrating the 8th of March, so called "Women's Day". Nowadays one can find many people who argue that the holiday quite lost its essence by now and that it is not "applicable" any longer and that it is not national enough. But then you should see the sea of flowers, chocolates, perfumes that cause endless smiles and happy atmosphere. You would say I am biased and conformist. In fact I am confused. I want for women to have rights to make their own choices and have the most equal rights they chose to have but I also want them to have a luxury of feeling feminine with some "special" rights such as men holding doors for them and letting pass first. With these confused thoughts I am among those who accept wishes on the date and try to understand those who are unhappy with imperfections of the holiday.

Later in the month when everyone longs for spring even stronger with every week we anticipate our one of the most cherished holidays Novruz.

During previous years I would have posts in March that I would devote to Tuesdays of wind, water, fire and earth that precede Novruz holiday. Zoroastrian by history and nature Novruz is the holiday we have inherited from our ancestors and I love the holiday for its multidimensional beauty and wisdom.

Just like any other place in the world Azerbaijan lived through different stages of history and development. On that path it accumulated traditions, culture and beliefs that got changed and adapted by winds of change and novelties. Country observes holidays of Islam, celebrates New Year decorating New Year tree (many of the readers would read it as X-mas tree) and has holidays like 8th of March and Novruz not mentioning the holidays to celebrate Independence and other. Over the centuries the country has been and is very tolerant to all beliefs, religions and cultures. More than 70 years it was a part of Soviet Union. I can almost compare this membership to put it softly to undesired friendship or even union where one is constantly making compromises and somewhat obeying while the other is becoming more and more demanding and impudent. I am glad that we are out of this union and don’t have to ask permissions and have excuses to celebrate holidays like Novruz (celebrating Novruz was prohibited for some time during Soviet Union).

Before I am too carried away with all these thoughts let me wish to all of you happy spring and that you don’t miss it and actually enjoy every new flower and sun ray of nature.

For colourful pictures of Novruz please see my earlier post here.

And let me post some more of those that I have taken recently.

Photo taken in exhibition devoted to 8th of March in Museum Center, in Baku. We went to see it with my little sunny bunny. Piece in the center is "Wish tree" by my spouse Teymur Rustamov.

This year we had a strong winter. In March mountains in Sheki were still in snow...

Traditionally everyone in Sheki prepares their gardens to welcome spring...

One of traditional Novruz sweets. Gogal. Resembling the shape of sun it has got lots of spices and flavours and is one of my favourites. These were prepared by my mom and my sister and I were helping her out.

Traditionally you would have children knocking on your door and leaving their caps and hats asking for some sweets. You are not supposed to see the kids. Once you put something sweet and tasty and close the door they would come and pick up the hats...

Caspian sea in ice…amazing or strange February 2012…

I am afraid my blog starts to sound too English since I am writing about the weather again. I have an excuse though since what we are witnessing this February doesn't really happen too often. Maybe once in 60 years and not many people can remember.

As you might know although Caspian is called sea it is actually the biggest lake in the world (you see there is always something special about this place ;)) Caspian is salty but mildly salty should I say but in general it is believed that it shouldn't get icy. This February we started to hear on the news that Caspian is in ice. Thankfully the other weekend we got ourselves together and went to witness it personally (do you know that feeling when you leave your warm house and soft sofa, gather your kids and go out to nature and after that good feeling and memory of accomplishment warm you up for quite a period of time? )) well this is how I and everyone in my family felt after that trip to seashore ))

Something else that you should know about us is that we Azerbaijanis could be kind of should I say irresponsible about safety matters. Everyone on the shore was/felt confident that ice should be strong enough and we went quite far for stronger emotions...I started joking that I walked on the Caspian further than I ever swam in it )) Everyone was quite cheerful and happy when the oldest among us my father started to say that we better go back since it could be unsafe (usually my dad is very strict but that day he was a bit softer)...Just when we were going back a stranger 15 or so meters away from us fell up to his belly through the ice...thankfully he easily got out and everything was ok (of course he must have felt quite cold and frightened). That seemed scary but everyone was too cheerful to get scared and serious enough. Photo sessions continued on the shore and I started to joke that how unlucky the man must have felt to fall through the ice on Caspian that freezes once in 60 years or maybe never!! )) but then he was lucky that everything was ok with him...

Anyway...life is interesting and strange and I guess depending on sunshine and mood we decide how to look at it. Thankfully strong wind and icy roads go hand in hand in Baku with sunny and quiet days thus I think it is an amazing and special February that we are witnessing this year....)

some photos of Caspian in ice...

Rest in peace dear Whitney...

Another talent is gone...rest in peace dear Whitney...you and your music will always stay in our hearts and history...

I wonder if she ever found her "bodyguard" in life...

Talk creativity, talk art – talk Azerbaijan...

Very often we come across stories when people in the capital have “strong” feelings regarding provinces or about people that come from provinces…As far as I can see these feelings are not unique for any country. Thus I think it would be fair to assume that similar feelings exist regarding bigger in size countries or smaller in size countries …At the same time just like very often provinces or people from provinces try harder to prove their capacity and strength, smaller countries also find themselves proving their strength and capacity harder than bigger countries. Although to some wise person somewhere high in the mountains be it in Nepal or Sheki it would be quite hard to understand the reason why any person or any country would have to prove someone else his/her/its strength and capacity, for general majority of audience this rule of the game has not changed but became even more sophisticated.

Modest purpose of this blog is not really to impress and prove the beauty, richness and uniqueness of Azerbaijan…There would be something beautiful, rich and unique about anywhere in the world…The biggest genius is the nature…and people have a mere option to make THE difference...(THE defined by capacity and inner beauty of the person to put it very primitively)...

...for anyone to take a moment and not to rush to be judgmental about the places depending on their size and their proximity I am posting now and then short stories and photos…no…not to prove…merely to reflect on some of the scenes and events of Azerbaijan.

During 17-29 January Phillips de Pury & Company hosted exhibition of 21 contemporary artists of Azerbaijan in London. Many talented artists exhibited their beautiful works. Exhibition was called “Fly to Baku”…I agree, to discover Azerbaijan fly to Baku, go to Sheki, visit Ganja, travel to Guba and don’t miss Nakhchivan (to name the few…).

I am posting a map…just in case…))

And I am posting photos of some works of Rashad Alakbarov one of the artists exhibited in mentioned exhibition…Talk creativity, talk art – talk Azerbaijan...

where we are...

works of Rashad Alakbarov...photo by Fa...

works of Rashad Alakbarov...photo by Fa...

works of Rashad Alakbarov...

Snow in Azerbaijan…Azerbaijan in snow…

In some countries people long for sunshine…some cities long for sunshine…

I have mentioned zillion of times on my blog that since we have nine climate zones out of eleven winters are different in different cities of the country…

Sheki is in mountains so its winters are real winters, with snow and cold…but snow without wind…snow that makes you feel magical…

In Baku we could have a day or two of snow during winter…snow would usually be with rain and wind so it would be quite difficult for kids to enjoy it to the fullest. Not sure if that’s the global “warming” but this winter Baku is having more snow than usually…Its again not a quiet and calm snow but quite windy…Baku definitely holds on to its name of being “city of winds”…

Last week was a difficult one…My father lost one of his closest childhood friends if not the closest one and pain of loss was not only his. Sad for his friend, Yaqub əmi (uncle), as we called him, for his family, sad for my father who is in his sixties…it is almost unbearable to see how deep his sadness and grief is…Lots of childhood memories came to me…One can grow older, become a parent, have children but there could be always people for whom one continues to be a child…and while they are next to us our childhood kind of still continues, it is still with us…and with those people we can almost behave like a child and cherish that link that is so personal and unique...I felt like my childhood almost ended last week…definitely some lovely parts of it were gone forever…

I couldn’t travel to Sheki for funeral; my heart was definitely there...and then we had snow in Baku at night…it was magical in the morning and kids were so impatient to go out to snow…my little one was analyzing snow on his fingers…couldn’t quite realize what was all about…older one was enjoying it to the fullest…I felt so warm…couldn’t feel the cold until my son and I decided to feel the snow on our faces…it was fun…I felt like my childhood was still next to me but with some other lovely stage…

...sharing with you some photos...

you would always find hot tea in Azerbaijan to warm up your body and soul...end January 2012...photo by Asim Baku...

snow in Baku city center...end January 2012...photo by Asim Baku...

snow in Baku city center...January 2012...photo by Tokay Farajev...
snow in Sheki...make sure you see the rooftops on the background...January 2012...photo by Murad...
my little one trying to figure out whats snow is all about initially on the balcony...and the older one enjoying it to the fullest...

Independent Azerbaijan...

Another year has passed. Year when nature, economies and politics lived through a lot of turbulence. Years can be different but wishes remain the same: health, peace , love and wealth.

Azerbaijan had a relatively stable year. Today in the new year on 20 January we remember victims of independence. In life very few things are straightforward. One of them is that most of people would wish to be free as much as possible in their decisions. The same is true about Azerbaijanis. You would agree that in life there are very few people that would think about others as much as they would think about themselves. Maybe parents, not of all them either. Nobody is perfect you might say. Exactly. Who would expect empires to be perfect and think about the countries they conquered as much as about their own interests. Probably this never happened.

Historically Azerbaijan was always the target for empires and independence is almost a luxury for our young republic...

In 1990 our family lived in Poland. I remember our conversation with dad when he said that there is a risk that Soviet army would enter Azerbaijan. "Anything can happen" he said "they might close the borders and we might not be able to go back home for awhile. I suggest we go back home now without delay." (I don't think my parents could imagine their life without Sheki). We returned to Baku early January and Soviet troops entered the city on 19 January.

That was it. There was no going back to Soviet regime.

My older son is almost six now and he loves travelling with his parents and grannies and loves travelling back home. He lives in the country where he can travel and live wherever he wants. Probably by the time he grows up it would be hard for him to believe that there could be more restrictions than technicalities to travel and live wherever one chooses...There is only one future for Azerbaijan that he and everyone else will witness and that is independent Azerbaijan.

Today Azerbaijanis mourn for victims and not only of January 1990 but for all who became victims for independence, freedom and well being of their motherland...Let they rest in peace...

My earlier posts on the date can be read here and here.

Winter in Sheki...

I rarely travel to Sheki in winter...probably because southern by nature I prefer travelling mostly when its warmer...nevertheless there is nothing more refreshing than awakening breath of mountains when it's cold. I try calling my relatives during the breaks of my routine and it is interesting to hear the same stories but in different manner depending who I am talking to. If I am talking to one of ever cheerful relatives I hear "you should see the beauty of our garden, snowflakes are huge and the air is so crispy; well yes the roads are frozen so are the pipes but never mind things will be all right..." and then I hear from another person who is almost always a step away from feeling depressed "oh, everything is frozen, so depressing, cold, winter is unbelievable this year, electricity was out for a while, I wish we were somewhere else..." I hang up and I am thinking how almost the same things make different people feel differently...certainly at the end of the day as they say it is not only the weather that affects our mood but probably our inner "weather" affects how we see things out of the window as well...

Sharing with you my photos that I took in Sheki during the season that might appear cold and gray but which at the same time has the weather that can awake one's mind and soul...

Talking about the weather...

Haven't been blogging for ages...feels awful...but fortunately was busy with good things and hope to be able to write more again...

Its late November and Baku witnessed snow already twice...this is very unusual for Baku since usually we would have a day or two of snow sometime in February and that would be it...not quite sure what snowing in November would bring for the rest of winter and so on but it inspired me to write about it today...The thing is that just when I was going to mention again that we like boasting here that modest in size country accommodates nine climate zones out of eleven I realised that I mentioned about it in my different earlier posts here here here and here :))) I guess thats already quite few :) the reason why I thought about this again is that not only in the country but even in our capital yesterday we had almost no snow in one part, mild snow in another and real snowfall in its higher parts...this must be quite normal but again made me think that its kind of interesting... I am sharing with you the photo that I took in the morning when walking to the office in Baku as well as the photo that was taken also today but in Qabala, city in the north part of the country. There is something amazing about walking in the snow...Wishing you an amazing weekend...)

In Baku this morning...

In Qabala today...courtesy of Farid Novruzi...