The poet

Le poète Salimsho Halimsho (à droite) en compagnie de ses amis, terrasse arrière de la chaïkhana Roxhat.

I would also tell them a bit about their president but the subject is dirty. So let's come back rather to a more neutral matter. Tapshans, for example. One of the men understands that I try to buy one and offers me to find the appropriate model. He refuses to understand that I have no house, no place to put it.
- There is no problem. You have to put it in a container.
- But my apartment is too small!
- You do not have a garden ?
- Hélas ! Trois fois hélas !
It is behind Rokhat that things are starting to get serious. I meet there a group of men who are drinking tea and debating. I speak to them about the authenticity of the tapshans where they sit and they recommend me that I go into the Iram botanical garden and to the Badakhshan. In their opinion, there are not many real tapshans in Dushanbe.
- Otkuda ?
- Frantsiya.
One of them gets up and gives me a strong hug.
- My brrrother, my brrrother! He exclaims.
He is an old man but expresses a sense of strength.
- Haracho François Holland ! Sotsialist !
He is great, he adds, because he chose Renault cars and not Volkswagen. He is a very simple President. Another man whispes to me by pointing at his friend "He is our great poet. His name is Salimsho Halimsho."

A terrace, that is what I would have ! A large terrace, with bougainvilleas, a vine and the view of the Seine. To admire Paris sitting in a reclined position on a silk kurpacha of a modern-style tapshan, sipping a glass of this good wine so appreciated by Omar Khayyam !

- Call me, he says while he writes his phone number. I shall bring you at a seller's.
The poet wants to speak to me about the Badakhshan. He begins to draw a Pamirian house.
- The window in the center of the roof comes from the zoroastrianism. Dushanbe is a modern city while Badakhshan is a historic region with temples of the fire. You also have to visit Isfara and Khodjent, the heart of our Sogdiane.
- Did Zoroastrianism exist also in Central Asia ?
- Of course it did ! During the Sassanid dynasty it had spread across all the region. Even now, during the weddings, a fire is light and the newlyweds are revolving around it. The fire has a central importance in the Zoroastrianism because it is considered as a divine symbol.
We raise toasts. He promises that he will bring me tomorrow some of his books. But the next day, when I will arrive on time at the chaïkhana, the poet will not be there. 

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