How to become an Irkutskian

"I myself came to Irkutsk in 1980. I was then doing military service at the Belaya Station, in the airforce regiment as a medical attendant for two years of extended service. Once the service time ended, I liked the city and stayed here to study; I graduated from Irkutsk Agricultural Institute and married here…"

E.T.

"My father is an electrician. So, he came here, and then he brought us here; but later they all left, my parents and all. And I stayed to continue studies".

A.Kh. (Master's student, second year)

"I came here in 98… for earnings. At our place, in Tadzhikistan, after the civil war, it was difficult to live and work… I stayed here and attended preparatory courses for three years. In 2003 I entered the economics institute; having finished my studies, I filed my papers for citizenship. I wanted to get it after the university and to stay here. I got it in 2008, and married here".

V.G.

"During the civil war in 91−94, our folks, everybody migrated wherever they could. One person came here, stayed, earned money, looked around, met someone, settled in and went back to the homeland. [Then] he brought 10 to 15 others along with him. My father came here in 97, and in 98 I came here with him. I came for the first time in my life and stayed here".

V.G.

R.I.: Were you thinking of staying here?
E.Т.: When I was leaving I didn't think of anything…It was just… just like, you know, I was just migrating.

"I came to Irkutsk in 2001. At that time I was working as a general labourer, paid for work done… for short terms — for 6 months at most, or four to five months, then I went home and came back again… From 2005 to 2008 I didn’t go to Irkutsk, I was working in my homeland. Since autumn 2008 and until today I have been living in Irkutsk. But I go home every year, sometimes twice a year. My family lives in Uzbekistan".

U.K.

"A friend of mine was working here, and one day he came to our village… We talked and I asked him, just like that during the conversation, what if I were to come with him. 'If you came, I could help you, for one month at least; I can help you in all things, moral support and financial, he said".

U.K.

"So that’s how I happened to come here. So, I came… and some time later, ten days later, I felt I was not troubled, I was sleeping well and nothing was worrying me".

U.K.

"When someone from my place comes for the first time to Irkutsk, and I am showing them the city, the visitor would often say: 'Oh boy, do you call this a centre? What is that?' [meaning the area around the Central marketplace, in particular the former market Shangkhaika] I say, 'Well, the city is still growing'. So, I explain that it [the city] is still young".

U.K.

A.K.: My father came here on a business trip and stayed here.
R.I.: Didn't he explain to you why he came here himself first and brought you afterwards?
A.K.: Well, he reckoned the education here is better and there is a prospect. I think so too, there are prospects and possibilities here. More than there.

"My brother, he graduated from the Medical institute and wants to continue [his studies] here, he wants to do a medical internship and bring his family here. This, I wanted myself: there is no prospect for him there; to have a prospect there you have to have an uncle or good money, to pay first to get further. To study seven or eight years, in order to work later as a male-nurse, is also not right…"

V.G.

"I don’t want to leave for somewhere else, because I like it here, this city… Well, one can say it is a multi-national city. First, in Irkutsk there is no such thing like you are not Russian, you are Tadzhik, you are Uzbek and so on. Here, in Irkutsk, for 17 years of my life… since 98 I have never heard and never saw someone saying 'You are like this, you are not from here, go away'. Yes, I never heard or saw anything like this".

V.G.

"Irkutsk is like a home city for me, I think so".

M.S.

"The city where I come from originally is already a bit strange for me, I would say so. I have already… I've lost the feeling for it got out of habit there".

A.Kh.

"Then I felt that Irkutsk is a hospitable city, welcoming people, very friendly to each other…"

E.T.

"Now, when I am come to Moscow… the way folks behave here and in Moscow is like day and night… Yes, a large city, when you go to Moscow, when you walk there, if you ask a question on the street — no one would even speak to you. They would walk on as if nothing had happened. Here it is different. Here… You ask people who are tired (and that can often happen) — they would still explain in a normal way, where and what. Or, for instance, I was driving home one night. Someone asked me, 'How can I get to Listvyanka?' They were from Krasnoyarsk. [I] was driving in a different direction, I said, 'Follow me, I will show you the road'. From the airport I drove them to the road, I stopped and explained that the road is straight, there are signs. I drove [home] and felt good. If you happen not to know your way, you just ask, and you will be told. Try it in Moscow, no one will even speak to you".

V.G.

"Those who have settled down here are more or less [living] in the city, someone like me, who [came] earlier. Some do business, some work, they have got [something]. Those, who come and go, they live badly. They don’t live, they just… exist. They live in [such] conditions, so these are not conditions for humans".

V.G.

"I was renting a flat in a wooden ramshackle house, a room in it… I didn't know that his guy has served a term, that he was an alkie. I said, 'What do we do regarding payment?' He said to bring a bottle every evening. I said, 'How do you mean a bottle? A bottle costs quite a lot.' He said, 'No, I mean this kind of alcohol.

He showed me a bottle, I could read on it that it is something for windows cleaning. Every evening after my work I always went there and bought such a bottle. At one point I got tired and bought 10 or 15 of them. I hid it under my bed, in order not to look for them each time. One day I noticed that my food started to disappear, that someone slept in my room. I asked, 'What is this? I lock the door, you have got a spare key, and you are taking my food.

One night there was a crowd. All of them had ugly mugs, prison-like expressions. One of them, then another one, started getting at me. I said, 'If it is like this, I am leaving tomorrow.' That night I was scared. They stayed until the morning, sitting and boozing. I hardly slept that night, the day after I took my belongings and left. Afterwards I was living at the building site. He came to ask me to come back, said, 'You know, I don't have anybody, no kids, no wife, I am alone. Come back.' I said no. He came again and again, asking for money for booze. I said, 'I am tired of you. May be you can go and work somewhere, as a watchman?' Nobody wanted to take him, because he is a drunkard — who needs him…"

U.K.

"Employers don't want to make a working contract, because it is better for them if they work without one. There are cases like the one last year. One of our men fell down from the 5^th floor. An accident. He died. They didn't have any working contract, and they said, 'He didn't work with us, he was just visiting us.' Although he was [working] there for three months. It turned out, there were witnesses. But nothing could be proven".

E.T.

"Our folks are very trusting. A man comes, makes an agreement, and does everything. They are often ripped off, fobbed, left alone. Quite often, we cannot help, because there is no proof, no papers, no contracts… It happens that an employer says, 'Well, there is no money, not that I refuse to pay; when there is money, I’ll pay'… Some even [say], 'I don’t know them at all.' They were working, they have done [the job], then [the employer] would call the police and the police would come and take them, that’s all".

V.G.

"I was then living in a different place. There were young junkies there. At night you go to a shop to grab some food, you leave and they are already at it… I left this place too — with great difficulty. And yet, when I was living in Zaton-place, there are two-storeyed wooden houses and the residents said, 'Be careful, all the more, you are not Russian, God forbid… you never know…'

U.K.

- I am asking, why do you grow a beard?
- This isn't forbidden, is it?
- Passport… There you haven't got a beard. Why do you go around like this? You are attracting attention to yourself! Because of this, they'll put you in a police car, by in a patrol car, and you will spend the whole day there, because of the picture not matching.

Don't stroll around, don't walk at night, keep a distance away from young men, to from drunkards. Especially to from drunk women and young ladies…"

U.K.

"In general, the most suffering comes because of state authorities. One has to walk go away without a passport — it is taken away. How is it taken away? They give you a scrap of paper, 'Once you pay the money as stated here, you bring the receipt, then you will get your passport back.' And then, if something happens, the officer would say,'I never took anything, I see you for the first time".

U.K.

"Around eight o’clock I was going down the street and I heard from a distance two women having a row. They were shouting at each other across the street. When I could catch their words, they were already at the stage of 'Who do you think you are?'. One of them was sitting on a bench, surrounded by women like her — with headscarves, colourful but worn out clothes. The other was in a t-shirt and leather skirt, she had a dog and was standing near to a brothel and looked like its mistress (or maybe its sales manager). For the sake of her words I have written this blog entry: "You are nobody! Remember this: you are nobody! And I am a Russian citizen. If you don’t like it here, go back to your own monastery!"

"Negative things depend on the people themselves. The way I behave will be the way I will be treated. As long as I am living here, never ever, not a single time has someone said to me, 'You, you go home, you are like this or like that.' Someone comes and says: 'I was spoken to like this.' I say, 'Why is nobody speaking to me like that? So, it is you who behaved that way".

V.G.

"Even five fingers are not alike. We also have bad and drinking people, everything this can happen. I am not saying that our folks are better. We also have people like this".

M.S.

"There are no complaints about simple folk. A common language will be always found, the work goes well, everything is Ok, is all right".

U.K.

"Well, yes, Vasyli. When I was here at the beginning, I was called Vasya. The name remained. Because some people have difficulties pronouncing my name. Vasya, I like it like that".

V.G.

"Maxim, because it is easier for me and for everybody…"

M.S.

"Standing at a bus stop and talking loudly in their own language. I think that the majority of Irkutsk locals don't welcome this, when strangers talk in their own language. Some would say, 'Well, why not?' 'Is there a law forbidding me to speak my own language?' I answer that there is no such law. But one has to show respect, in front of these people, try to behave normally".

U.K.

"I am sitting with my folks, no matter where, speaking in Tajik, and Russian words will come out".

V.G.

"My little sister is learning only in Russian. She's almost stopped talking Uzbek, she is learning here, she is in third grade already".

M.S.

"My father said the same things to me. If, for example, you are standing close to a Russian, don't hesitate, talk in Russian".

M.S.

"We often meet, talk and explain: 'When you are talking to [state] authorities, don’t say 'ty' to people [addressing informally, translator’s note], always say 'vy'. This is from not knowing the language; it sounds rude. It is good that here, in Russia, people understand, when… well, when a non-Russian is talking".

V.G.

"When it turns out that there is a Russian is among us, I would always speak Russian, so that he is not offended, or she."

M.S.

"They try not to go out [in the city], because they are saving every kopeck, they understand they came here, they will have that much money, which has to be earned by hard work; he would keep everything to feed his family there".

V.G.

"I am working in a market for construction materials. One of my subordinates is a non-Russian load handler (may be an Uzbek, may be not, don’t know). Yet, I hate it when the customers start to mob them around. Once, after an older couple had insulted him, he turned around and went into his room. The woman was shouting, the old man lifted and carried the bag of cement by himself. I criticised the woman and said to her that she shouldn’t lay into the loader, she should tell me and I would have a talk with him. After loading the cement (50 kg, one bag), the woman came and asked to get the money back originally paid for loading. You should have seen it, when I gave her 5 roubles (which is still one rouble more than the loader would have earned)".

"I've been working with good people so many years. I don't know, maybe just got along well, but I have worked for one-two-three years with locals, and we kept together. They were waiting for me, when I was leaving, asked when I would come back. No fighting, no yelling. Furthermore, we helped the locals, explained how to work, to earn money. 'You are a Russian citizen, aren't you?' You go and make a contract in your name; we provide workers and will be responsible for the quality and delivery times. You are responsible for the contract".

U.K.

R.I.: How did you become acquainted?
V.G.: Mere chance. I worked on a building site, they came to take wood boards, and we had to load them. One word led to another, we got acquainted. We went to his garden to unload the wood boards… Then, through him I got acquainted with others and started doing bare-knuckle boxing.

"When I came back to my homeland, to Uzbekistan, I found it strange that one may haggle when buying something… Here, you wouldn’t haggle in a supermarket".

A.Kh.

"Previously, when I studied here, it was difficult to get halal meat. Several people had to gather money to buy a cow or a sheep and then to keep 5 to 6 kg of meat for oneself. And today, in any place of the city you can buy halal".

V.G.

"We celebrate festivities at home. We observe Ramadan [period of fasting]. Until last year I observed it every year. This year I could not. Well, I had exams. I wanted to observe it, but I thought it wouldn’t work out, so I skipped this year".

M.S. (student, second year)

"If he is going to pray five times a day, who’s going to him? Who’ll his family?"

"It is quite rare that someone [ from amongst] young people would ask about a mosque… A very small part attends the mosque, but not regularly, not always".

U.K.

"And still, one shouldn’t be an animal and should come and pray".

U.K.

"If I go out now and meet a girl, this is a sin. I mean meeting a girl in order to, so to speak … to make love. This will be a serious sin".

V.G.

V.G.: Without a nikah, a marriage is not a marriage for us. Some would say that is adultery…
R.I.: Is nikah more important than a ceremony in a Civil Registry Office?
V.G.: Yes, it is. Because it is God's will.

"You meet someone here, not deliberately. As you say, a heart wants what it wants. If it is your destiny, you will fall in love. For instance, why did I choose a Russian woman, what is the difference? She is a good and decent person, she doesn’t drink and smoke, she has got a good helping family".

V.G.

R.I.: People coming here, do they seek to marry only a representative of their own nationality?
E.T.: No, not young people of today. Young people love whom they love.

"Recently we sent a body bag… The second person was buried here. His parents agreed to bury him here. In such cases we have to gather money: some would give 10 roubles, the other 50 roubles. Some help from their working place. Sometimes, there are good employers who compensate the costs for of a funeral".

"Some come here to pick up the coffin. We send it without a peep, without yelling. Some cannot come. I call the homeland… and get a note, 'We agree to bury him there".

U.K.

R.I.: Do you go to the Mosque on the Karl-Liebknecht-Street?
V.G.: Yes, I do. And, in case we are in Zhilkino district on Friday, there is a mosque there as well. Well, a prayer hall.

"To make a conclusion… I will do my utmost here, in this city, in this country, that there is peace and love and respect for all people, that this country prospers. We are living and working here. You can say it in Oriental style, in my home country we say that if you spend a day somewhere, in a nomad’s tent or in a house, if you were offered food, were respected and taken care of, then it is your duty to have the greatest respect for this house, forty times more. I say to my fellow countrymen: we find bread for us and our children here, therefore, we bow down before this state, these people, because nobody troubles you, pursues or offends you, and this is the most important. We came and found jobs here. And in return for the respect of this country, these people, we have to answer with even greater respect".