Life between Mulberry Trees & Generation NEXT - Part I
Twisted, burned and broken and still more fruits than ever before. The resemblance of the mulberry tree to the most recent development of Uzbekistan is vivid and intrinsically tied to each other.
In between has been a generation brought up which seemed to have been invisible for most of the world. Good kiddos, obeying the rules quietly but loud in their communication when immersed in their parallel world of their smart phones' glowing screens, 24/7.
So what is this Mulberry Tree like? An amazingly sculptured tree - imagine it like the ancient Olive trees of the Mediterranean - already mentioned in the Babylonian etiological myth. The bark of an old tree can be twisted like a cork screw driver, withstanding cold winds and sandy storms, and owners often trim their crown like the mop-top hairstyle a la Stuart Sutcliffe. Within this myriad of leaves in uncountless layers through which you will need to muddle through, you will find the treasure. Either pitch-black when ripe or white, sometimes 4cm long but always rich and sweet.
Uzbekistan seems to me like those trees these days. It is busy, it is awakening, it is finally able to show its real beauty and lets everyone get a taste of it. It has been bruised and battered and left with scars, when left abandoned and put in isolation, from the past decades.
Under the sheet of a perfectly closed up country, scrutinized when you wanted to enter - and leave - it seems like all this has vanished and you stand in front of an army of people, ready to run and get the best out of their country. They are on top of the latest technology news, curious to gadgets, skilled in crafts, arty and creative in modern & traditional design, amazing tastes out of their fusion-kitchens, multi-linguistic and keen to share. Those beautiful people are like those juicy treasures from the mulberry tree who left aside the twists in their lives, revealing slowly their secret. So brush aside the thick leaves and go and see. Fast..