A Tajik boy at a memorial in Dushanbe, Tajikistan dedicated to the renowned Tajik historian and author Sadriddin Saidmufodovich Aini (15 April 1878 - 15 July 1954). In Prominent Tajik Figures of the 20th Century, University of Minnesota historian Iraj Bashiri writes Aini (also spelled Ayni) is the father of both Tajik and Uzbek literatures. Bashiri also notes that Aini's awakening occurred during Russia's October Revolution. His poetry "praised the dawn of a new age for the working people of Bukhara"; in his novels like The Slaves and The Bukhara Executioners "he exposed the inhumanity of the Amirs [leaders] as they clung to power using repression and terror as a means to sustain themselves".

The boy in this photo is standing beside a section of the memorial that features heroes from Aini's work.