Count your blessings – name them one by one
The slogan may have been borrowed from New York … but it describes a strong sense of civic pride that people here feel for their city
Earlier this week I came across an interesting post on the kloop internet portal … although the site has a blog in English, this particular post was in Russian – which makes sense because it was really aimed at a local audience. Even so, I thought it was particularly interesting and well worth sharing with a wider audience … and so I decided to do so.
In short … I am not an interpreter so I am not going to try and translate what she wrote, (and if, in my paraphrasing, I hit the wrong note anywhere, I apologize) … she points out that in social media there has been a lot of discussion recently about Bishkek and life in the capital. The emphasis in the comments has concentrated on negative aspects, problems and so forth. This got the editorial team at kloop wondering – what about the other side of the coin? … what is there about Bishkek “to love” … (after all, there’s been a city wide campaign “I ♥ Bishkek”) … and what are the distinctive features which help distinguish it from other cities around the world?
Personally, I had a slight problem with that, because I think she’s asking two different questions … and the answers may well be different … the proximity to the mountains may also be found in other feature associated with other cities but, to me at least, it is certainly a great attraction of the city … but I’ll let that pass for now.
Among the list she came up with were:
- Convenience stores and Pharmacies … it’s possible to buy almost anything at any time of the day or night …;
- Tolerance … although there may be individual manifestations of nationalism, basically the city offers a friendly and accepting environment for people from all over the world …;
- Cheap, diverse and relatively health food … with a striking variety of cuisine represented among the cafes and restaurants in the city … and especially the recent the recent trend of coffee chops that have sprung up;
- A Spirit of freedom … with a “sideswipe” at the opportunity to over the government every five years, (and another about “protest rallies against protest rallies”), she notes that many people from our neighbouring countries are often surprised at the diversity of what is permitted in Bishkek … a “freedom of expression” which is is not to be found in other cities throughout the region … and people do not feel that they have to “hide their relationship”;
- Barrels of Maksym – the traditional Kyrgyz (cool, refreshing, inexpensive and healthy non alcoholic) beverage sold from barrels on most street corners in the city center which is a truly distinctive flavour to the city, a sign of the warmer climes of Spring and Summer and, (albeit an acquired taste which some tourists don’t have enough time to asquire), extremely popular – so popular that a suggestion that they be removed caused a wave of indignation among the citizenry;
- Gender equality (well, relatively speaking) … perhaps the tolerance and spirit of freedom results in a more liberating environment for women to take part in running businesses, in expressing themselves and in what they wear … with an active and vibrant civil society that includes a number of “feminist” groups;
- Taxis … the city has a fast and efficient, convenient and affordable, friendly and customer orientated … and competitive collective of taxi services that cannot be rivaled within the region, and possibly much further afield,
- Greenery … the city that was once known as the “Greenest city in the world”, despite losing parkland to development and the felling of many trees, is still rich in abundant vedant landscape;
- Flea markets – well, bazaars where almost anything (apart from fleas) can be found on sale; she uses the phrase Veshshevie bazaary for which “flea market” is the best equivalent phrase in English … but she has also in mind the gargantuan bazaars such as Dordoi - on the outskirts of Bishkek.
She points out that the list is not necessarily exhaustive … and there’s an appeal for comments and further suggestions. Indeed, although I think it is quite a good list, I can see that some people might want to question one or two of them …
.
Apart from the list itself, what I found particularly refreshing was the fact that the article tried to focus on the positive aspects of life here in Bishkek, rather than the negative.
Criticism, discrimination and prejudice are examples of words which are double edged … but because of the way they are used in everyday speech we tend to think of it in only way way – negatively.
Take criticism, for example, which describes making a judgement of the merits and faults of something or someone … note that “merits or faults” … but because it is usually applied to comments that are adverse, it is usually associated with “finding fault” and we tend to forget that it has this double edged nature. The word probably derives from the ancient Greek kritos, (judge), kritikos, (able to make judgments), and krisis, (the the result of a judgment as in a trial) … where the emphasis is on the process of making a judgement and not on the nature of the judgement itself.
It is true that we sometimes talk about a minor criticism, or positive criticism or constructive criticism as a way of ameliorating this negative aspect and trying to make is more palatable – because people find being criticized an unpleasant experience and tend to react badly, going all defensive.
I suppose one reason for this negative association that the word has, is that more often than not, criticism tends to negative, highlights weaknesses and finds fault. After all, it is usually a lot easier to enumerate deficiencies and describe potential desirable improvements.
As the leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats pointed out to his party members shortly after entering into a coalition with the country’s Conservative Party, it’s easier to be in opposition than to be in power and take responsibility for decisions. Sometimes it seems as if it is easier to sit back, to harp and snipe at those in power than to critically weigh up the pros and cons of an argument, balancing principle with the practicalities of the situation and making an informed judgement and coming to a decision about what course of action to take.
I remember being on a course where one of the activities was to work in pairs and for a period of several minutes to give each other a positive critique of something … then, for a second period of several minuets, a negative critique of the same thing. It’s surprising how easy it was to be negative … and how hard it was to be positive.
I notice in several conversations I have with locals, (especially when they have asked how come I ended up here in Kyrgyzstan?, why I am still here? and when I plan to return “home” to the UK), how they appear almost eager to describe the pitfalls, difficulties and disadvantages … and as a result, in my opinion, lose sight of the benefits, the good and the potential that is available for those who are able to take advantage of them.
That’s not to say that we shouldn’t pay attention to the negative aspects of life and strive to overcome them and improve things … but it’s a balance and we shouldn’t forget the advice of the old Sankey gospel song: Count your blessings, name them one by one, and that will help to put things into context.
You might well get a surprise …
.
For the record: The internet portal kloop.kg was launched in June 2007 and consists of two main services: journalism and a blogging platform by Bektour Iskender and Rinat Tuhvatshin. I The original idea was to bring all the features for free, which means there are no paid skins, and no paid plugins – it was established with funding provided by the Dutch-based Hivos Foundation.
Articles are written by young journalists, mostly University High School students between the ages of 15 and 25. The Kloop Media Foundation runs training courses to help them with issues such as Balance, Accuracy and Jounalistic Ethics.
Currently there are more than 3000 blogs on Kloop, which makes it one of the three biggest blogging platforms in Kyrgyzstan.
Blog pages are supported in Russian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik and English.
This was the fourth article by Amina Suleeva on the site. The others were: a photo essay about how the city on the first day of the new year; an interview with a Kyrgyz citizen about her experiences when she was refused entry to Russia after a trip to the states – even though she has lived in St. Petersburg for several years; and a short piece about a split in the political parties that made up the majority on the Bishkek City Council.
Bishkek