A Big Government makes a Small Citizen

Bratsk, Russia somewhere near Irkutsk 1989.

We flew Aeroflot from Tashkent to Irkutsk. Talk about having to wait in the airport. We were at the airport at 3 A.M. for a flight around 8 A.M. (We think that is normal these days, but remember, this was before 9/11.)

I remember holding a chubby Central Asian baby, mummified in his snowsuit, to give his mother time to get herself settled. 

And I remember the hostess…we called them stewardesses in those days… carrying a kettle full of boiling water down the aisle right before serving us tea during the flight.

The backs to our seats would flop forward if we left them.  Some seat belts weren’t attached to the chairs. The stewardess just threw the useless seatbelt under the seat when one of our group showed her.

The Siberians had sacks of fruit and other fresh foods from Uzbekistan stuffed in the overhead shelf. They’d offer it to us when they decided to eat some themselves.

We landed in a cow pasture. I could see the grass coming toward us, the fences flying past. Are we really going to land in a cow pasture??? But we did. All of the men in our party said the Russian pilots knew what they were doing. They must have because when the pilot passed my chair before the flight, he had the demeanor of a man who had had a few drinks.

There were young Russian boys on the plane: conscripts. They smoked and looked about with an air of bravado. They would need to be tough. Beatings of young soldiers are common in the Russian Army.  ( Read One Soldier’s War by Babchenko. It tells of the experiences of a young soldier in Chechnya.)

Why do I show you this photo…aside from being able to tell you my little story? My main reason is because the men in the photo are so very, very handsome: those three on the right. And the photo tells a story without my remarks. The man in the beret could be KGB or he could be related to the woman in the red babushka. He is quite interested whatever the case. This scene of checking a person’s papers played out millions and millions of times in the Soviet Union.

My husband and I just watched a great film: Farewell. It is the story of how a Soviet agent and a French engineer helped to bring down the Soviet Union. The review says it is “loosely based” on the real story, but you will enjoy this film. It is full of tension and drama. You can order it on Netflix.