Pan-stan chaykhana
Aug. 1st, 2007 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusEvery day, these rainy days, I'm going down to "visit Sadako" (our term for going to the cellar) and rummaging about in boxes. It's a sort of lucky dip, but I have certain things I'm hoping to find. Amongst the VHS tapes I'm particularly hoping to discover a BBC documentary series called Storm From The East, about Genghis Khan's nomad empire.
I haven't opened that particular box yet, but in the meantime here's Ryszard Kapuscinski's description of a town square in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, during the Soviet years (from Imperium):
"It is noon. I go out of the fortress onto a large, dusty square. On the opposite side is a chaykhana. At this time of day the chaykhanas are full of Uzbeks. They squat, colorful skullcaps on their heads, drinking green tea. They drink like this for hours, often all day. It's a pleasant life, spent in the shadow of a tree, on a little carpet, among close friends. I sat down on the grass and ordered a pot of tea...
"Blinding sun fell on the square. Dogs wandered about. Tour groups were coming out of the fortress... Between the fortress-turned-museum and the mosque-turned-billiards hall sat Uzbeks drinking tea. They sat in silence, facing the mosque, in accordance with the ways of the fathers. There was a kind of dignity in the silent presence of these people, and despite their worn gray smocks, they looked distinguished. I had the urge to walk up to them and shake their hands. I wanted to express my respect in some way, but I didn't know how. In these men, in their bearing, in their wise calm, was something that aroused my spontaneous and genuine admiration. They have sat for generations in this chaykhana, which is old, perhaps older than the fortress and the mosque. Many things are different now -- many, but not all. One can say that the world is changing, but it is not changing completely; in any case it is not changing to the degree that an Uzbek cannot sit in a chaykhana and drink tea even during working hours."
And here's a little video installation of Bukhara. You can play these simultaneously. The first is a French tour of the town, the second an Italian film of an Uzbek market, the third an odd anthem for an as-yet-unfounded -- and sinisterly utopian -- pan-stan nation.
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To compound the oddness, I'll leave you with a few lines of my own, a sketch set in Samarkand. Cup of tea, pet?
In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese chiropodist
Extracted a glass of clear green tea from his samovar
Extracted green tea from his samovar
A ghost tended two moss gardens, one marshmallow, one ectoplasm
Something to do with the free bamboo, something to do with the snow
Green plants, folk and fairy tales from German Africa
Swamp leg, an inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts
An inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts...
I haven't opened that particular box yet, but in the meantime here's Ryszard Kapuscinski's description of a town square in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, during the Soviet years (from Imperium):
"It is noon. I go out of the fortress onto a large, dusty square. On the opposite side is a chaykhana. At this time of day the chaykhanas are full of Uzbeks. They squat, colorful skullcaps on their heads, drinking green tea. They drink like this for hours, often all day. It's a pleasant life, spent in the shadow of a tree, on a little carpet, among close friends. I sat down on the grass and ordered a pot of tea...
"Blinding sun fell on the square. Dogs wandered about. Tour groups were coming out of the fortress... Between the fortress-turned-museum and the mosque-turned-billiards hall sat Uzbeks drinking tea. They sat in silence, facing the mosque, in accordance with the ways of the fathers. There was a kind of dignity in the silent presence of these people, and despite their worn gray smocks, they looked distinguished. I had the urge to walk up to them and shake their hands. I wanted to express my respect in some way, but I didn't know how. In these men, in their bearing, in their wise calm, was something that aroused my spontaneous and genuine admiration. They have sat for generations in this chaykhana, which is old, perhaps older than the fortress and the mosque. Many things are different now -- many, but not all. One can say that the world is changing, but it is not changing completely; in any case it is not changing to the degree that an Uzbek cannot sit in a chaykhana and drink tea even during working hours."
And here's a little video installation of Bukhara. You can play these simultaneously. The first is a French tour of the town, the second an Italian film of an Uzbek market, the third an odd anthem for an as-yet-unfounded -- and sinisterly utopian -- pan-stan nation.
[Error: unknown template video]
[Error: unknown template video]
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To compound the oddness, I'll leave you with a few lines of my own, a sketch set in Samarkand. Cup of tea, pet?
In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the Vietnamese chiropodist
Extracted a glass of clear green tea from his samovar
Extracted green tea from his samovar
A ghost tended two moss gardens, one marshmallow, one ectoplasm
Something to do with the free bamboo, something to do with the snow
Green plants, folk and fairy tales from German Africa
Swamp leg, an inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts
An inner lightbulb, tragedy on stilts...
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 11:55 am (UTC)http://www.assyrianvoice.net/emagazine/chaykhana.htm
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 01:11 pm (UTC)I recently came across a website (http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html) about a Ukrainian woman called Elena who likes to ride her motorbike through the Chernobyl "Zone of Alienation". People are scared of the area due to the deadly radiation still present; but Elena knows where she can and cannot go safely with the aid of her geiger counter and documents what she sees with her camera. People have abandoned the area; their houses, their schools and their posessions, all untouched in over 20 years since the accident.
As Elena puts it: "They call it a town where time stands still.
Maybe it is because the clocks here don't measure time - they measure radiation levels."
Compare and Contrast...
Date: 2007-08-01 01:27 pm (UTC)The Chernobyl Legacy: An Interactive Essay (http://todayspictures.slate.com/inmotion/essay%5Fchernobyl/)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 03:46 pm (UTC)Here is a link explaining some of the things that happened. (http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread_archive.asp?threadid=8951)
I'm sorry if I burst your bubble, it was quite a tragedy for me when I found out it could have been a fabrication too. :(
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 05:36 pm (UTC)in japan "cha" is tea, as well? distant linguistic connections?
or something else? (like how the word for bread in japan,
"pan," was supposedly adapted from the portuguese).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 07:33 pm (UTC)Not that suprising really considering China is the birthplace of tea.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 07:38 pm (UTC)But yeah, the idea of her, her husband and an official going in a car isnt as romantic as the idea of a reckless lone rider and her bike.
Re: Compare and Contrast...
Date: 2007-08-01 07:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 08:31 pm (UTC)good information--i knew someone could
explain the connections more clearly than
i would be able to.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-01 11:14 pm (UTC)Some more sites that describe Chernobyl 20 years later:
My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster (http://nikongear.com/Chernobyl/Chernobyl_1.htm)
Nuclear Nightmares: Twenty Years After Chernobyl (http://www.pixelpress.org/chernobyl/index.html)
And something slightly different:
North Korea Photojournals (http://www.stat.ualberta.ca/people/schmu/nk.html)
It's interesting seeing how detached North Korea is with the rest of the world.
Re: Compare and Contrast...
Date: 2007-08-02 12:45 am (UTC)neutron moderators
Date: 2007-08-02 01:51 am (UTC)I think momus should spend some time on reactor core design in an upcoming
issue.
It might be worth mentioning the contrasts of the nuclear tests between French Polynesia and Kazakhstan had on the earth as well.
Kraftwerk recorded a song titled "Radioactivity" ("Radioaktivität") on the album of the same name.
Re: neutron moderators
Date: 2007-08-02 01:58 am (UTC)I am going to go check that song out, now that you mention it!
Re: neutron moderators
Date: 2007-08-02 03:15 am (UTC)One of my early songs is about nuclear testing in the Pacific -- Splitting the Atom in Eden, it's called.
Splitting the atom in Eden
Scraping the bottom of the world for gags
Adam and Eve will be splitting their sides
Laughing through their tears as they pack their bags
Maybe it'll appear in the ongoing "basement tapes" series.