PINING FOR THE NORTH

Abramovich is like a father-confessor for everyone in Chukotka, from small potatoes and up to local petty bosses. All of them are hostages of the empire that tumbled. And all hope for a miracle. The miracle has been rushing up and down Chukotka, drawing houses full, a total sold out. Audience were prepared to attend even if that meant standing in the aisles

PINING FOR THE NORTH

The deputy (the present governor) would arrive by plane, the folks would gather, and here it all starts... No, nothing like a constructive dialogue, but a popular lamentation. The most frequently asked question is rhetoric in nature: How shall we live now? Once a woman exclaimed during the meeting: «Do promise us something!» Everyone burst out laughing, but she did get the gist right. People have long since realised that the authorities couldn't care less, up till now the bureaucrats have only been issuing endless promises. But there has been no action. So now people want Roman Abramovich to be compassionate. They know, if he promises, he is sure to do.

I, for one, have a feeling that we are on the eve of some global changes. It will be not just the beginning of a new century and a new millennium. Russia is now going through transformation of conceptual eras and its political elite, when people of eloquence are being replaced with the people of action. It is not just the average age of the power echelons being shifted, the psychological type of a boss is changing, too. While in the earlier days power provided access to good living standards ensured by tenure of office, now it is altogether a different process: it is rich people who are gaining power and who do not need this power to serve as a feeding trough. A good sign: when a person has already resolved most daily problems, he or she would start working out of interest. To implement ideas and attitudes. From this point of view, Abramovich's sudden love at first glance to Chukotka is simply a positive crisis of maturing. Transition to a new, higher stage of inspired building. And there are many things here that are crying out for that...

...In Beringovsky village, a woman is wailing out of pity for her husband. He hangs about, having not been paid for 18 months. He is, so to speak, employed at the electric power plant which has long since stopped functioning.

...People are complaining in Anadyr that the State Medical Committee would not confirm disability: there is no money to pay pensions to invalids (who must receive a slightly higher rate).

...«My boss fired me out of vengeance», — a woman is pouring her heart out in yet another settlement. «And there is no other work here. I have not been paid for a year now. And I have a child. And my husband dodges paying child support.»

I was watching Chukotka dwellers and felt how boundless their despair was. But a more attentive eye could notice something else: most people have not degraded, despite all odds. Life is beastly, but they are pressing on. They joke. They are decently dressed. Many voice their complaints through the glitter of gold-capped teeth. It is the farewell glow of the epoch which is no more...And finally, they attend meetings, which means they still believe there is sense in it, although they would not hesitate to argue uselessness of it all. If they really thought that a meeting with the deputy is pointless, they would have gone hunting or fishing, to make provisions for the winter. Many of them are patriots of Chukotka. I remember a woman who was so proud of the good swimming pool in their Children's House of Arts. She took me up to the glass door painted over with some rabbits and squirrels.

«See, this is the pool over there. True, it is closed now, but you can peep in this hole, where the paint has been scrubbed off. See? There is a hole here».

I obediently peeped through the hole.

«No water there».

«Correct», says she. «Who needs water when the pool is shut down? Pity, this door is closed, you could see for yourself how good our pool is... And the mural on the wall... A real artist did it...»

I looked closer at both the mural and then this lady. She really liked it all. She lived in Chukotka all her life. It is hard to discard all your life...

I remember I was flying by a small transport aircraft from a tiny Chukotka town to Anadyr. There was a lady there with a sad-looking husband by her side. The lady was pressing a cat to her bosom. The cat was frightened, but the lady would not let him go, so that he would not tuck himself away at some technological spot and damage the aircraft. She has spent 27 years there, having arrived at the age of 18. And now she is leaving this cold country for good.

«My husband and I, we decided that we would not live long enough to receive the subsidies promised by the government for the purchase of housing in the mainland. So we borrowed from wherever we could and bought ourselves a tiny apartment in Lipetsk. I am coming from there originally, and my children live there now. My husband and I, we have worked really hard, paid out debts, and now we are flying away. For good.»

Our plane circled above the bay, the lady pressed herself to the window. There were tears in her eyes. She was cuddling the frantic cat and blinking rapidly. I felt sad, too.

Road signs are bordering the roads, as they should.

«And do you have traffic police here?» — I am asking of the local driver and explain: «Thing is, there are practically no roads here».

He is hurt: «And what about 25 kilometres? Is this not road enough? How can we do without police? Although there are none of them around for now: one is on vacation and the other one is poorly. There is nobody even to cover accidents».

«So accidents do happen?»

«But of course! We had just one tractor and one tow truck in the vicinity of a hundred kilometres. But even those two managed to ram into each other!»

«So do they use speed guns on your rubble-covered highways?»

«You bet!»

I could never guess whether he was joking. We started chatting. Turned out he came here 20 years ago.

«I was planning to spend three years and make some extra money. And stayed for twenty years instead».

«Why?»

«The North draws you in».

Later I was to hear this phrase a lot more. From very different people. And their stories were so similar. A person would arrive to make a quick northern buck. Then get settled. Beautiful nature. After long years spent in the environment with few microbes and little oxygen, the body gets used to it and feels comfortable. Psychologically, too, for people here are beautiful, no comparison to Muscovites.

On the other hand, offence is known here, too. But there are no prisons around. Convicts are shipped to Magadan — far from being a resort, as it were, either. What is the commonest crime in Chukotka? Stealing food products. Out of dire need. That is why the first time round they are trying to sentence people conditionally. But some have to steal again.

Alexander NIKONOV