Hurmatli janob Ahmad Umarov,
Men Samarqandga tashrif buyurganimizda, meni va boshqa yozuvchilarni yaxshi kutib olgani uchun sizga va sizning ajoyib oilangizga katta rahmat aytaman. Sizning uyingiz va bog’ingiz go’zal. Sizning kelinlaringiz va kelinlaringiz eng yoqimli va juda chiroyli. Avtobusda uzoq yurgandan keyin biznikilar juda zo’r edilar, nonushta va musiqachilar bilan kelgan ziyofat juda yaxshi kutib olindi. Barchangizga katta rahmat. Men O’zbekistondagi mehmondo’stlik, xususan, ko’plab avstraliyaliklarga mehmondo’stligingiz haqida gapirdim. Aazam juda ko’p mamlakatdan kelgan ko’plab yozuvchilardan tashkil topgan ajoyib ishni amalga oshirdi, lekin u buni do’stlarining yordamisiz qilolmadi. Sizga eslab qolish uchun suratga tushganman. Men sotib olgan rasmlar allaqachon devorlarga osilgan va ular mening uyimga kelganlarning barchasida katta taassurot qoldirgan. Besh kun charchadim va charchadim, lekin endi odatdagidek yangi kitobim ustida ishlashga shoshilmoqdaman. Men hatto O’zbekiston haqida birinchi she’rimni yozganman. Bu bolalar she’ridir, chunki men she’riyatni boshlayman. O’zbekiston mening she’r yozish va ko’proq she’r o’qish istagimni uyg’otdi. Barchangizga va yangi tug’ilgan chaqaloqqa omad tilaymiz,
Patrisiya
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Dear Dr. Odilova Gulnoza, My name is Patricia and I was one of the writers that came to your apartment for the lovely FEAST that you prepared for us. It was an astounding effort on your part and I wish to thank you. You must have put in a lot of work and time to have such a wonderful table of food. I am so sorry that we had to rush off so fast to go to the theatre. It was a very busy day with 2 university visits before reaching you, but it was such bad manners to ‘eat and run’ as we say in Australia. I have nothing but good things to say about Uzbek food, mostly that it is so fresh and without chemicals and without plastic coverings and without genetic distortion. I liked it so much I put on weight, (5k) in the 4 weeks I was in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kygyistan. I am now trying to diet, and could well do with some of your wonderful salads and tomato salad. Plov and your wonderful fresh bread is to blame for my weight increase, I really loved the bread but also the wonderful hospitality we were given by so many schools, universities and friends of Aazam. He did wonderful job of organising everything but he could not have done it without his wonderful friends such as yourself. So again thank you and good luck with your ‘promotion’ of Uzbek cuisine, especially that tasty desert, Patricia Bernard.
Dear Mr Ahmad Umarov, I would like to thank you and your wonderful family for their amazing kindness in hosting me and the other writers during our visit to Samarkand. Your house and garden are lovely. Your daughters and daughter-in laws are most gracious and quite beautiful. Our accommodation was wonderful and the breakfasts and arrival dinner with the musicians were so welcome after such long drive in the bus. Thank you all very much. I have spoken of the hospitality in Uzbekistan and your hospitality in particular to so many Australians. Aazam did a wonderful job organising so many writers from so many countries but he could not have done it without the help of his friends. I am sending you some photographs I took to remind you of us. The paintings I bought are already hanging on my walls and they have been admired greatly by all who come to my house. I spent five days jet-lagged and tired but now I am rushing around, as usual, prepsing to work on my newest book. I have even written my first poem about Uzbekistan. It is a children’s poem as I am a beginner at poetry. Uzbekistan has awaked my desire to write poetry and to read more poetry/ Thank you all and good luck for the new baby to come, Patricia.
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After I left Tajikistan and arrived at 4 am in Tashkent. It was all go go go. There were 20 of us in the beginning. But by the second week the American (Black) the Spaniard, and most of the Kygyistan people had to go back to their homes to work. This left 10 of us. Japan, Australia, Israeli (2) Bulgarian (3) Uzbek, Danish, Kazakhstan. The group was split equally between English and Russian speakers. During the 2 weeks we spoke to at least 20 primary, middle, high schools and universities and English speaking schools. All of them were very welcoming and kind, and I can say we ate and danced our way north and south of Uzbekistan. There was no money made and no money spent. Azaam organised everything, but received no assistance fom the Uzbek government. Azaam Abinov is a poet. He organised everything. We slept free in houses and apartments owned by his very generous friends and in his family house in the north. We also visited Samarkand and Bukhara as tourists, only visiting a plant museum (private house) sculptor studios, cotton mill, artists homes and studios and of course the tourist sights of both cities. Sometimes we slept in beds (female rooms and male rooms) sometimes we slept on mattresses on the floor (VERY COMFOTABLE). At all times we were fed amazing dinners and breakfasts, restaurants invited us fo free, we went to the theatre also invited.We visited museums, but all the time we ate amazingly. I put on 5kilos and am now trying to diet. What was lovely was the wonderful comradery of the group. Especially the last 10 of us, some have agreed to return next March/April. I sent Azaam your photograph and told him you were a writer. I told him I was looking for indigenous Aboriginal Australians who are also trying to retrieve their lost or nearly lost languages. Now all we did was speak to the students about what we wrote about (most of uswere poets, I was the only pulp fiction writer, I write for tv. Film and publishers. Mostly childrens’ books of late. You can find me on Wikipedia and google. So I spoke about Australia which was an unknown or mostly unknown country for the students. Who spoke very good English. So if you are interested in doing 1 week or 2 weeks with Azaam, you must contact him Аъзам Абидов <azamjon1974@gmail.com>; I have recommended you, but he may have forgotten he had so much to plan, getting us into cars, buses, to schools, it was a mammoth job.
Dear Azam, I am still jetlagged, and sleeping patterns all crazy due to 30 hours non sleep (I cant sleep on planes). Bu I have written my 2nd poem. As Tippy said when it happens you just have to get up out of bed and write the damn thing. I am worried bout Mooree, I do not have her address, (r it is in my diary and I cannot find it) Can you send her email to me, please. She lives very close to where the typhon hit Tokyo and I want to know if she is OK. I have spent two days telling everyone how wonderful the two weeks with you and your writers, sculptors, artists group was. How was and generous and fantastic the Uzbekis are and how I feel privileged to have been part of such a wonderful, friendly caring and fun group. I have spoken so much about it I have a sore throat. So I must thank you again, and again for organising such a great and fantastic trip, for all your wonderful kind and giving friends who let us stay in their houses, for your brilliant family who were so kind and loving, (I talked about your sons and wife lot) and for your parents and in-laws who welcome us into their lives. There are not words to describe the last two weeks, fantastic wonderful amazing just don’t seem strong enough. Some other requests. I would like to thank the schools and universities, but have no address, any chance of getting their email addresses and I would like to send the teacher who gave m such a lovely coat (I wore it up to the Blue Mountains to a charity fair yesterday, S’haila, my 3rd daughter, was face-painting for children to help raise money for the community garden which was full of fruit tree in blossom and so pretty. Everyone loved my coat and of course I told them the story off how generous the teacher was. How generous all the Uzbeki we met were. Once I work through everyone, sending them photos and getting my paper work to rights ,going to the bank, paying bills. Fixing taxation (it is over due) I am sure I will ask for more addresses. Although I may be able to get them from the email you sent. I am about to email the lady, who on our last day provided such a wonderful repast and then we ate and ran as we were latte for the theatre. I want to thank her for her effort. And I have my Uzbeki based poem to write. The one I just wrote as about the Moon and the Chnese mining the back of it. So not appropriate for the anthology. Have to go and have breakfast will write again soon, love Trish, and once again thank you for such a loving, warm and fabulous two weeks where I have met such lovely friends, I hope I get to go to more writers festivals and meet up with them again.
Love, Trish
From Ivan Stranjev, Bulgaria
Привет дорогой друг. Большое спасибо за видео, которое вы мне прислали. Я приехал домой из Узбекистана, но не совсем. Все, что происходит, находится в моем уме и сердце. Я сам переполнен многими, все еще пропавшими без вести картинами и эмоциями. Я рад за нее, я рад за себя, что я должен их читать. Это будет замечательный опыт. Весь день я рассказываю об Узбекистане каждому знакомому. Так будет и в ближайшие дни. Я не могу сказать вам, как я благодарен за все, что он дал мне в эти дни. Я не думаю, что это разговор для мужчин. Я уже загрузил все фотографии на флешку, чтобы я мог играть на экране телевизора и подробно рассказать жене, что случилось. Будь жив и здоров. Я целую тебя и Надиру.
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From Tsippy and Raviv:
We have just landed in Tel-Aviv, however I am still in the euphoria of our two weeks in your beautiful country. I joined this trip with very high expectations. Azam you succeeded not only in helping me realise these expectations but to transcend them. The beauty of Tashkent, the magic of Samarkand and the spirituality of Bukhara were all beyond my imaginations. I discovered The special wonders of yourself, The beauty and calmness of Nodira, without whose support I am sure you would not have realised your success, Your beautiful children, your parents and siblings and your whole extended family, Your friends, our hosts, who without exception put themselves out to be hospitable to a fault. All these were the components of the special magic that you wove for us all. Last but definitely not least was the special bond forged between all of the group. This was an experience never to be forgotten. Azam, for this I am full of gratitude.
Tsippy and Raviv
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