It's Good to be Back

Good August dear friends! It feels good to be back. Today, finally I'm having vacation from work so I've got time for everything :)

If I explain what happened with me, it won't inspire anybody's day for sure. But I'd still want to ask apologies for the very long absence. I haven't been around and haven't visited any of your blogs for more than two months.

There was another whirlwind in my life. How exciting eh? I just cannot stop having them. I'm sarcastic, by the way.

Lemme at least give at least give you a peek on what had happened. I owe you that.

Last time I was here, I was in an unstable state whether to leave or stay. Well, I stayed and staying for sometime. We managed to have all my necessary documents done with such a tremendous stress, magnanimous difficulty and heartbreaking aftershock! I'm not going to go into details but if we meet (who knows) I can narrate ... if that time, it still matters.

Comes next is settling. The "moving out & in", new place, old place stuff and all sorts took all my time and strength while at the same time, it was the busiest time at work.

For a few weeks you got settled, thought that finally you can relax, have sometime for yourself. Then boom! A call of an emergency! I hate receiving very unpleasant surprises. Honestly, it was the very first day I've had coffee in bed because I could afford to spend the whole morning without doing and thinking about any work (at least I thought so). It was the first free day I've got after all those hectic activities. It was an emergency! The need to call an ambulance, the panic, the fear, confusion, anger... altogether. How I hate the smell of "medicine" you know that particular smell which tells you it's coming from a doctor's stuff. It was a family member whom we had to help.

Now things are slowly going stable and calm. Like I said, I am finally having a vacation. :)

The city is busy lately for the World Water Sports Championship. There are many things going on around. I'll be posting some to show you what we're up to here.

For the meantime, let me make up my long absence.

And thanks for not deleting me :)

Some more Art

These are some more of Grandfather (in-law's) paintings. They aren't very clear. They're  from the book written about him so colors are a bit different from the original. 

... and that's  him in his art studio.

His awards and recognition

Stalin Prize 3rd degree (1951)

Honored Art worker of Tatarstan (1957)

Honored artist of the RSFSR (1957)

(The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic)

State Prize of the Tatar Autonomous Republicnamed after Tukai (national poet) (1958)

People's Artist of the RSFSR (1980)

A street in Derbyshek region was also named after him.

Scene History & Socialist Realism

"Sabantuy" - one of the best paintings in this genre (Tatarstan Fine Arts)

Sabantuy is a Tatar festival that dates back to the pre-Islamic epoch. The holiday's name means "plough's feast".  It was celebrated by farmers before sowing. The Tatar wrestling "kurash" is the main event in Sabantuy. Wrestlers use towels and aim to knock down the opponent.

This painting of Sabantuy has been moved from and to different museums and is now at the National Art Gallery.

Among the other paintings is a personal one. They're  his two sons, one of which became an artist too.

After the war, he devoted himself into painting. What I heard from my mom-in-law is that he never talked about war, never watched movies and documentaries about it even when children were watching.  He simply did not want to see and tell his children what ugly thing war was. 

What Dau Ani kept in repeating to us was that Dau Ati (grandfather) wants the family to rather look forward. See the good in life despite of what misery they have been trough. 

What a strong spirited man! I'm not sure how he could look at life with such optimism after what he had seen and experienced.

Whenever I hear people complain or I catch myself complaining about life and stuff...I remember stories like his. 

He has thing for countrysides and simple life. Maybe because he finds peace in them. He merely collected joyful events in life and transfered them into canvass.

He also painted portraits of known and unknown people.

He entered the war with a notebook and pencil. His notebook was full of sketches showing the tragic event of a wartime. He sketched and painted fellow soldiers. One of them is "Ivan Kalitina" on oil canvass, Germany.

Many of his paintings are exhibited in different galleries in Moscow and in other cities. A series of illustrations of Tatar folktales are kept in the golden fund of of Russia & Tatarstan Fine Arts.

But my ever favorite portrait is his "wife pregnant with their first child-my husband's mother". Not only because it is very symbolic for me but because it is very beautiful. I don't have a picture of it now because I didn't think I  was going to post about it. It's kept privately, not in any gallery.

Some of his paintings are political figures and these paintings are  in a commercial art gallery.

The painting above "The signing of Lenin decree on the formation of Tatar Autonomous Soviet Republic" it was co-authored by his bestfriend, his wife's brother. It was awarded the "State Prize of the USSR".

Next I'll  share Dau Ani's brother's artworks.

Grandfather in WWII

In connection with the upcoming Victory Day on May 9th, I'm writing a post in honor of those who fought during the war - my husband's  grandfather was one of them.

Dau Ani (grandmother) who recently passed away in December was a veteran too. I believe I've already told you about Dau Ani's story and I remember that I promised to write a separate post about her husband. I never met him, he died in 1981 when my husband was just a child.

He was Dau Ani's brother's bestfriend. They were both renowned artists of the Republic of Tatarstan in USSR times.  Republic of Tatarstan is one of the many republics in the Russian Federation. Kazan is the capital city of Tatarstan.

He and his bestfriend volunteered to go to war in defence of the country. He was once captured by the Germans and brought to the concentration camp in Lingen. Due to severe concussion, he lost 3 months of hearing and speech. After spending 3 tears in German concentration camp, he repeatedly tried to escape and finally managed to do it and made it to France where joined the resistance movement.

He managed to come back to the country after the war and in 1946 was delegated to Budapest to patrol.

According to Dau Ani's story, it was him who was the last to arrive home after the war. When Dau Ani was telling us this story (it was our last visit before she passed away) I  couldn't imagine how terrible and heartbreaking it was to wait each day for your loved ones, friends and acquaintances to come back. I couldn't imagine what sort of agony it must have been for mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and children not knowing whether there is someone for them to wait for. Some come back alive but with broken spirits, some physically disabled, others simply don't come back and never heard of.

As an adult, I thought that I understood what war is and its course but after hearing such a full account from a first hand survivor I realized that all I knew about were mere theories, story-like-novels read and heard. It was only then I fully grasped the idea, the story, the FEELING of what war had brought and can bring to people's lives.

My husband's grandfather continued to paint even during the war. He & Dau Ani got married after the war. He devoted the rest of his life to painting. There are some of his artworks which I will be posting in the next few days. He died in 1981 and is survived by one daughter and two sons. The daughter is my husband's mother.

You may want to read his whole story here:

Wikipedia: Фаттахов,Лотфулла

(if you're using chrome it will translate to English, if not you may opt for wiki's other language)

Last time ...

I've  had so much (maybe not that much) personal things in this blog that when I was down, I felt like running away from it the same way I ran away from the present reality I've had. Sometimes (for me at least) it's easier to detach, I'm better at handling emotions alone than with many others (that includes family). I don't  know, maybe I'm afraid to be seen that weak in some cases. Maybe I tend to get more confused when others come for me. I'm  definitely afraid of losing full control. Not that I'm  a control freak (or maybe I am).

"Dau Ani" means grandmother. My husband's  grandmother who raised him as a kid to support his mom who was then at the peak of her career.

If you have read one of my posts in fall, I once mentioned visiting her after we picked up yellow leaves in the park to bring her the season since she can't go out anymore. We also made a video of squirrel to show her. We brought her fresh (relatively fresh) coconut from Thailand which we found in the shop. We had fun, lots of fun opening the coconut with a kitchen knife and a hammer to help. That was ridiculous of course but we shared this memory with her. She was very excited that day. She was actively taking part in the activity, asking me to make picture of what's inside the coconut. She's not a tech savvy but she got used to it coz we always show her what's  new. She was also emotional that day. She cried watching the videos of squirrel. In the video we made, we were asking the squirrel to "come to Dau Ani" and it came to us right up front the camera. It was lovely. Later she was happily laughing at how the squirrel was jumping on our legs and greedily taking nuts from my hands. She likes anything that is and feels beautiful. She'd often say "it's  a miracle". I think she was very grateful  to many things. She was a child of war so I understand very well how she could never take things for granted like many of us younger generations do. One very funny thing I always laugh at no matter how many times I heard from her is "just in case". She used to have an extra loaf of bread in the fridge and she won't eat it unless there is a replacement. She'd show it to us and say "and here's one more loaf inside...just in case". In case of what?! She'd not even answer us, "just in case" she'd repeat. When I  heard of it first time I was laughing hard. Not insulting, just feeling funny. Then she told us stories during the war. How difficult it was. Those stories didn't  start and finish in one visit. There were many continuations & different incidents everytime we come. There were times when we all (3 of us, with my hubs and I) end up very quiet having heavy hearts and thoughtful minds. There were many many stories from real experiences, from a first hand witness. She was a veteran. She was a nurse but during the WWII she was amongst those who were patching tank holes which were actively used by soldiers. There were times when they had to drag some parts of a soldier's body from the inside. I am still speechless about these facts. Knowing Russian history is difficult enough for me but hearing real stories from real people close to me is quite overwhelming. It's one thing when you read history, know figures and see pictures. It's another when you know these people, when you feel for these people. Our Dau Ani is just one. I am surrounded with people whose relatives have gone through the same unpleasant things. Unpleasant is surely an understatement. Dau Ani's husband had a more difficult human-heart breaking story, but I'll  tell you about him in another post.

I have learned many things from Dau Ani. Really many things about life. She once told us not to think bad if some elderly are staring at us (which happens quite often in our case). She said they don't  mean any harm, they just think slow at their age and think a lot more about how life or the world has changed. Russian elderlies lived during soviet times, for them, it's something not easy to believe that nowadays, it is quite easy to spot foreigners on the road married to locals speaking foreign languages. They're  happy and at the same time they think about their lives back then. So whenever I see babushkas (grannies) staring, I sometimes smile at them or quietly and slowly leave beause they are also fond of starting a looooong conversation.

That day she took out many old pictures, introduced who they were and what happened to them. Of course mostly connected to war. It's not that she was fond of telling stories about war, it's  just that most of these intelectual men in the family & friends circle all ended up in the front. If you know Russian history, you'll understand what I mean.

We stayed for 3 hours which usually doesn't  and shouldn't  happen because she had to take a rest in the afternoon. All family guests stay at most for an hour giving her enough time to rest. But we couldn't  leave her because she was very energetic and she didn't  finish her stories. She asked my husband to make pictures of the old printed pictures she had. She said it's  better we have them in file. They were black&white. When we finally decided to leave, she wanted to show us one more thing. It's  a painting of her husband, my husband's grandfather which she didn't  and won't  sell or even give to museum as most of his paintings are in the museum or in the National Art Gallery. He and Dau Ani's brother were two of the best painters during soviet era. She wanted to show us where she was keeping it but we said we could do it other time. She didn't  want us to go but we insisted. We knew she was excited but we couldn't  not give her a rest.

So we parted never thinking that it would be our last time together. :( She passed away on December 10, 2014.


(the story doesn't  end there, I  will continue next time)