28. April 2026
On my knees lay a model of a gifted badgir (a wind tower — an essential element of Eastern architecture). It had been given by a native resident of an old traditional village of Kish, where every detail carried meaning and spoke volumes about the place. Inside, there was a warm sense of fulfilled joy from what I had seen — and a frightening premonition of an approaching large-scale catastrophe…
22. April 2026
Ismail woke up in a hospital. He had been placed in the corridor with a shattered head. Struggling to remember what had happened, he silently began to observe what was going on around him.
04. April 2026
Sometimes life collapses over you like an avalanche — sudden and merciless, testing your strength. One of my deepest fears, tied to my love for travel, once taught me a harsh lesson. It happened in Iran — a country that, like a strick teacher, prepares you for everything.
25. March 2026
It was winter outside, which meant even heavier smog in Tehran — a suffocating haze that hung over the city and refused to leave. I kept silently scolding myself: these were terrible conditions for a newborn, and we had to get out. So we decided to fly to Kish Island.
This stunning coral island lies in the Persian Gulf, not far from Dubai, and from the airplane window it looks like a pearl resting on the water.
29. December 2025
The room fell silent as everyone drifted away. Sunlight slowly poured through the two large windows — in Tehran, there is always an abundance of it. Sitting at the warm desk, I wondered how often we judge people we know nothing about. If I had been born somewhere in those mountains between Pakistan and China, wouldn’t my fate have unfolded differently? Would I have been a strict Muslim woman? And would anyone have even thought to ask me?
KOLO · 17. December 2025
Abdullahan once again tried to begin a new life. This time — in Tehran, the greenest and most prosperous capital of Persia. Things began to improve, if only slightly. The dreamer found work as a translator at a foreign embassy. He worked almost every day, and in the evenings he visited a friend’s photo studio and continued to play the dutar outdoors, surrounded by nature. In photographs, everything always seemed fine, and music helped release the emotions that had long held him captive.
KOLO · 12. December 2025
The days rushed forward unnoticed; I spent most of them at the university, continuing to study the Persian language. My second Nowruz was approaching. At some point, the streets of Tehran became surprisingly empty. Although the peaks of the Elburz Mountains were still smoking with white snowstorms, the city was already noticeably warming up.
KOLO · 12. October 2025
A drop leaves its native earth —
and again returns to the oyster
that awaits its pearl...
Jalaluddin Rumi
KOLO · 07. September 2025
In 1916, a terrible disaster struck Azerbaijan — a wave of cholera swept through towns and villages. Abdullah Khan then set out for Persia, to Mashhad, as if fleeing from the darkness and disease. But the epidemic soon reached that city as well. He believed that here he could begin a new life, fulfilling his long-cherished dream — to open his own photo studio. The money he had earned from David Rostamiani he guarded like seeds for a future garden.
28. April 2025
When I first arrived in Iran, the expression that struck me most came at the checkout counter of a store: “Ghabeli nadare.” Literally, it means: “It’s not worth anything,” or more loosely, “No need to pay.” Imagine buying something, reaching for your wallet, and the cashier smiles and says, “No need to pay, just take it.”