10 Comments
User's avatar
jeri lee | جيري's avatar

“As you get swept up by the symbiotic mass of human movement, you lose a great degree of your autonomy and agency at this station” from London, and reading this was a familiar feeling. Great read Akif! ✨

Expand full comment
Akif Aliyev's avatar

Thank you Jeri this means the world to me :)

Expand full comment
Alina Salahuddin's avatar

this is very beautiful. it made me very sad. I hope you get to be inconvenienced by Baku again and again for years to come

Expand full comment
Akif Aliyev's avatar

Alina, thank you so much for sparing some time for this. There's an intimacy to being seen that means a lot more to me than I can explain. I hope to be inconvenienced like that soon as well. Maybe it's the cultures we come from, but I've made a home of it.

Expand full comment
Ayoeb Sbita's avatar

I continue to study your articles. Everything is a ritual, like you said. Thank you once again for sharing this with the world.

Expand full comment
Akif Aliyev's avatar

What an honor to hear this from such an intellectual being. Life has been great with you in it man.

Expand full comment
Lisa's avatar

It’s a dog but it’s my dog will be on my wedding cake

Expand full comment
Akif Aliyev's avatar

God yes.

Expand full comment
Hannah Larson's avatar

Wow what POWERFUL imagery. Makes me want to get on a subway in New York and feel the humanness of it or better yet, go to the exact station you are talking about in Baku. Thanks for sharing!

Expand full comment
Akif Aliyev's avatar

Thank you so much Hannah! There’s nothing that brings me joy quite like knowing words could evoke feelings. There’s magic everywhere, and quite often in the places we’re never told to look. Should you ever plan a trip to Baku, do reach out!

Expand full comment