LIFE/AND TEARS/AND LOVE (UNDERSCORE THE RIGHT VARIANT) IN THE BIG CITY

“Pushkin is our everything”. Starting from elementary school, the texts of Pushkin are included in the life of every Russian-speaking individual. Whether we like it or not. Wholly or torn apart to quotes. Read with pleasure or crammed in desperation. We come back to him over and over again. “Eugene Onegin”, “The Belkin Tales”, “The little tragedies” ...

It´s like whoever you ask anybody, everybody knows them. Boldin’s autumn was the most fruitful period in the creative path of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

And, it just casually happened. Not a lot of people are familiar with what follows. When the poet was getting ready for the marriage with Natalia Goncharova, he moved to Boldino, to sort out some financial issues. He planned to stay there for barely a week, but a sudden outburst of cholera forced him to stay in the village for almost all the fall.

Here we go. So, what if there was no cholera? Would he have time, in that pre-wedding merry-go-round, to finish “Eugene Onegin, “The Belkin´s tales” and “The little tragedies" (and the list is a way far from being complete)? As they say, there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped.

I feel really sorry for Alexander Sergeyevich. I can imagine how much he wanted to be with his beloved bride, so was he writing fast, like a machine-gun. But on the other hand, he was lucky to live in a beautiful place for 3 months, where he could contemplate the nature, where nothing distracted him and daily bread was not an actual life issue for him... So, just create and do whatever you want)

For the time that I have been writing this short text, I was urgently called to take a look twice: for the first time – to see how Erdogan goes out during the session of Trump’s speech (what are you gonna say, osmanli*), and for the second time – to check out one more motorcycle (though, we have one already). I went, looked, oohed, smiled, came back, sat down...looking for a thought)

It is easy to be a saint in the monastery. Please, just don’t throw rotten tomatoes at me. Well, it is not that easy. What I am talking about is that in this case, you take a decision just once. It is like buying a one/way ticket, getting on the train and:

FARE thee well! and if forever,

Still forever, fare thee well;

(Lord Byron)

It is easy to be Luc Skywalker or James Bond. All right, it is not easy but at least it is clear what for. Once you believed it and you never get any doubts about it.

Each of us has plenty of things to do in everyday life. Routine allures us to warm and cozy swamp of our comfort zone. Information tempts us by the illusion of participation in the life of all the world. Little steps seduce by proposing to reach your aims without investing any efforts (the other day it really made me laugh when I saw an advertisement of a one-month intensive course of English. It claimed that just with 15 minutes of studying I will learn the language!) And the main temptation is the one that promises changes. How to stop, when there are so many opportunities around? How to stop if they keep telling that “it is normal to change your work and your partner every 3-5 years”? How to stop if you urgently need to make it and fulfil all your unrealized dreams starting from preschool?

Is there anybody who wants to stay at Boldino, at least for a week?

P.S. I do not wish you any cholera outbreaks around :) Take care :)

*Osmanli – is an adjective referred to Osman cultural identity, prevalent on the territory of North-Western Anatolia, contemporary Turkey; The Ottoman dynasty was made up of the members of the Imperial House of Osman, also known as the Ottomans (translator´s note).