What parent would not want to make their child’s first day of school memorable? But few may rival parents in Azerbaijan, where many first-graders arrived on September 15 in cars resplendent with flowers and bows, and cortèges of kith and kin in tow.

Short of tin-cans tied to the rear bumper, many a car was adorned with full-on wedding-style decorations, to hear the cops tell it. The showy processions — purportedly a growing whim in this oil-and-gas-rich Caspian-Sea republic — careened down the streets of the capital, Baku, giving quite a headache to traffic police. “Sometimes a first-grader is conveyed by up to 15 to 20 cars,” complained Baku traffic police spokesperson Vagif Asadov to Trend news agency.

Asadov claimed that these cars end up parked everywhere, turning the traffic situation in this city of over 2 million from bad to worse. “This has practically paralyzed traffic on the streets,” fretted Asadov. “Should a policeman stand at every meter [of roadway] ? Why can’t these people understand that they are causing an inconvenience to themselves and to others, and that this is not normal and looks ridiculous?“ he went on to ask.

But the inconveniences to others may not be the upmost thing on the minds of these parents. As in neighboring Georgia or Armenia, where students often come bearing flowers for their teachers, they want to make sure their children’s education starts with due pomp and circumstance.
 
Asadov is having none of it. “Parents must understand that their kids are going not into the army, but to school, and actually will be back home in a few hours," he advised.