I took this photo just a few moments before the war started...
-Saturday, February 28th, 10:05 AM.
I was sitting at my piano, completely immersed in a piece by Chopin, when the world around me suddenly shattered. A heavy explosion tore through the silence. My first instinct was denial a desperate hope that I had misheard. But within seconds, a second blast struck.
I hurried to the window. Down on the street, people were standing in utter shock, frozen in helplessness and terror, staring toward the smoke. For a brief moment, the cars stopped, but then everything suddenly seemed to fast-forward into chaos as they sped away. Half an hour later, the street was completely deserted.
At that exact same moment, miles away in another corner of my beautiful, vast country, 168 children in a school in Minab were instantly perished by a Tomahawk missile.
I stayed by the window, staring out at the empty street. The war had begun, and the music was over.