Felix catus

March 1st, 2014 Sections: Life In Kyrgyzstan, News, Weekly_Postcards
Vita - a star

Vita – a star

America may be commemorating National Pig Day today, but in Russia it’s Cat Day.

Here in Bishkek, I am known for my cats … there are five five of them, (at the moment, that is – at one point there were as many as eleven),  Actually, only one of them, Vita, is mine in that I acquired him as a “companion” – the others are all strays that have just appeared, or else have been abandoned in the yard, and they have adopted us.

They’ve like a family and each got their own character: there’s Vita, the doting grandfather – whose the oldest at 15 – quiet and sedat regally watching everything going on around him; Tom the Bully Boy who likes to push weight around and takes no nonsense from the others – and with a voracious appetite, he always reminds me of Audrey in the Little Shop of Horrors crying “Feed Me”; then there’s Vasya who’s the softie, extremely affectionate but shy; Moresic, who’s like a teenager, always playing, into everything and struggling to establish himself with Greyin the playful and impish kitten.

People assume that I am a great cat lover – but that’s not exactly true … we never had pets when I was young … although I adopted one, Rosie, in Oxford when a flatmate left her behind when he left.  Rosie died a few years later and it wasn’t until I came here that, once again, I acquired another.  Someone saw a photograph of Rosie and thought it would be a good idea for me to have some company.

Over the years, others have come and gone … sometimes we have found homes for them – sometimes they wander off their own to continue their lives as strays.  Usually they get on well together, but as well as being affectionate, cats are very territorial and can be combative … and one, Tom, is more aggressive than the rest constantly getting into scraps and trying to rule the roost.

They always attract a lot of attention when people come to visit me in the office, and they’ve made several appearances, for example, on the internet.  Unless, there are young children around, (in which case they rush to and jump through the window), the cats are usually lying quietly, sleeping or just keeping a watching brief on things.  The visitors and I start our conversation and then suddenly there’s a cry of: “Oh there’s a cat! … oh, there’s another … and another! … ” .  At that point one may deign to rise and sidle over, rubbing their cheek against a leg and perhaps jumping up to be caressed – so I have to apologise and offer to take them away – after all some people don’t like cats and some are actually allergic to them.

 

I think I am developing an allergy to computers … they are wonderful when they work, but when they decide to play up then all hell is let loose.  I said last week that I had to go up to Naryn and on my return I discovered the dreaded “Blue Screen” – and nothing I could do seemed to make any difference … fortunately, virtually everything is backed up and I found a way to recover from most of the data (apart, that is, for some reason the emails) … but it took me several hours.  Also, the colour printer stopped working …and my first thought was that the kids had done something – which they deny, of course, putting the blame on … you guessed it … the cats.

Naryn was actually quite pleasant … Today is considered to be the first of Spring and spring does seem to be on the way.  The days are noticeably lengthening and it’s getting warmer, the sun is shining and the birds are singing in good voice.  Furthermore, the forecast is for warmer weather so we are all feeling quite cheerful.  Up in Naryn, although the temperature was still quite cold -10 in mid afternoon, and -24 overnight, but we were as warm as toast in the guesthouse.  It didn’t feel all that cold, probably because there was no wind. When we got back to Bishkek the icicles that were dangling from the rooftops were all melting and it was possible to walk around without multiple layers.  

 

Lake Issyk Kul has been declared a Pearl of the Commonwealth, (that’s the Commonwealth of Independent States – the CIS – not the British Commonwealth),which won’t to those of us in Kyrgyzstan … after all, the Lake has been promoted for many years as the Pearl of the Tien Shan.  The Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS announced the list of what it considered the most important sights of the Commonwealth as part of the Year of Tourism, along with the likes of: Astana Round Square (Kazakhstan); Baku Boulevar (Azerbaijan); Khor Virap (Armenia); the Brest Fortress (Belarus); Round Square (Kazakhstan); the Old Orhei Preserve (Moldova); the Peterhof Palace and Sochi (Russia), the Fann Mountains (Tajikistan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), and Gur Emir in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).

On the cultural front, the Minister of Culture appeared before a parliamentary committee and made some remarkable admissions.  After the theft of the painting from the Museum of Fine Arts over the New Year, we heard complaints from the curators how it was strapped for cash – receiving just enough to cover salaries,but not enough for light bulbs.  Well, according to the Minister, not a single tyiyn (cent or penny) has been allocated from the budget for the development of theaters in the country.  Almost all of the country’s theaters are in need of serious reconstruction - most of them not having seen any form of renovation since the 1960s … the one notable exception was the Osh Drama Theater which underwent a major renovation following the events of June 2010.  All this is very surprising given the pride that is invested here in the performance arts, and not just akyns and manaschi.

Chinghiz Aitmatov, the great Kyrgyz author who is lionized, not only wrote novels but also plays and film scripts.  The Kyrgyz film industry has been undergoing somewhat of a renaissance recently- on very limited budgets.  It is true that many of the films are also somewhat “arty”, getting limited exposure in the outside world … but they are creditable.  Still, it’s hard to see how it develop further without progress in the theater.

The Minister says that there are plans to strengthen the repertoire of the various theater companies around the country but it’s hard to see how they can achieve this without support … and, likewise, it’s hard to see where that support can come from given the financial straits the budget is in.

 

The fact that Kyrgyzstan still hasn’t appointed 10 people to fill vacant posts of Ambassador, some for over a year, isn’t necessarily down to financial constraints … according to the Foreign Minister to another parliamentary committee, there are no plans to replace the Ambassadors in Minsk and London … – and we can speculate as to what he meant when he said, “due to the level of bilateral relations”.

I presume the government will be eager to keep the Ambassador in Washington … even if the Transit Center is closing.  The run down is progressing and the last mission has apparently been flown by the KC-135 tanker planes that have been based here for the last twelve years … and the planes left the airport.  One seasoned traveler commented how strange it was to fly out of the airport and not see the dozen or so US planes parked on the apron in front of the terminal.  There are still some planes left at the base, but they have to be gone as well by the middle of July.

The controversial Russian politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has been creating a bit of stir here once again.  Last time it was all because he suggested in a debate in the Duma that, instead of simply handing over Rubles n the form of aid, Russia should ask for Issyk Kul.  That got him declared persona non grata here.  This time, his comments on the situation in Ukraine, on Russian TV, he apparently questioned the statehood of both that country and the Central Asian states – including Kyrgyzstan.  One of the deputies wondered if this could be an example of a hidden agenda from Russia, and I have seen comments which have echoed similar thoughts,  In answer to a question in the Jogorku Kenesh, the Parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was studying the comments and preparing a diplomatic note t be delivered t the Russian Embassy.  As he is already banned from visiting Kyrgyzstan it’s hard to see what else they can do – or if he will take much notice, even if the Vice Speaker of the Duma has called on him to be more judicious and diplomatic in future.  However diplomatic notes have apparently been sent including one from Kazakhstan, and as he hails from Almaty, that might have some effect.

The question of Russian “ambitions” have been well and truly in the forefront of people’s minds as the situation in Ukraine has developed.  There’s a lot of interest in what’s happening over there and the events in Kiev have dominated conversation all week … regardless of whether it was an ethnic Russian or Kyrgyz talking.   

The Kamys youth organization staged a protest which seemed to mix up this concern with American influence, and Gay Propaganda, burning a portrait of one of the local activists whom they claim – but he denies saying that their complaints are based on forged webposts – to support gay rights and seeking to import a Maidan type revolution here …

Despite these concerns, the work on Kyrgyz accession to the Customs Union continues apace …  with working groups beavering away on the details.

Meanwhile, the Chinese seem to have signaled their concerns over the prevarications on the Kyrgyz side over the proposed route for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan rail link, suggesting that the project is being used as a pawn in the Custom Union negotiations but also hinting that it might create complications in relationships between Moscow and Beijing … and the possibility of a new wave of instability in the country.

The exchange rate continues to cause concern as the dollar continues its inexorable rise against the som – it two days it rose a whole som.  The Euro is also ring.  The Kazakh Tenge and Russian Ruble, not surprisingly, took a tremendous tumble when they devalued but whereas the Ruble quickly regained it’s value and is almost at the same level as before devaluation, the Tenge is lolling around in the depths into which it had plummeted.   Whatever, it seems to have provided a good excuse for anyone and everyone to increase prices … even where there is no obvious reason to justify such a link.  ”Well, the dollar has risen”, “So what, this is loc produe and hasn’t been imported”, “Well, the Tenge has fallen”, “Doesn’t that mean the price should have fallen?”.  Don’t misunderstand me, if there’s a reason for a price hike, then OK … that’s inflation, (which at the moment is fairly moderate … at least, according to official figures ), but it seems as if people are simply grabbing at any old excuse … just because it is in the news.  Meanwhile, protests continue unabated in Kazakhstan … and, here, the National Bank has started tightening banking regulations but it is too soon to tell if this is going to be sufficient to be truly effective in bringing some order to what looks like a chaotic situation.

 

In recent weeks there has been a lot of attention paid to the question of religion in the country with the president, State Security Committee and others calling for greater control in order to combat the spread of extremism.

The State Commission on Religious Affairs announced that there are almost two and a half thousand religious organizations operating in the country … most of them are Muslim – including 1922 mosques.  The Orthodox Church has some 49 churches, which is actually less than the Pentecostals – with 54 churches and the Baptists – with 50 churches.  Add to that the 43 house groups and churches belonging to the Charismatic movement, the 41 prayer houses of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, 38 prayer houses operated by the Presbyterians and the 31 belonging to the Seventh Day Adventists, it seems to me that the traditional role role granted to the Orthodox Church may really be under some threat.

Incidentally, for the record, the same set of statistics reveled that the Catholic Church has 4 churches in the country, the Jewish and communities both have just one organization … and there are 12 registered by the Baha’i faith.

  

On the tourism front, it seems that the Foreign Ministry are trying once more to backtrack on the Visa Free regime, suggesting that it should be replaced with the newly developed “electronic visa”.  Funny, I thought that when the new regime was brought in, it as agreed that it should be reviewed in 2020, not 2014.   I suppose that it they could come up with some compelling reason as to why the measure may have been a mistake, then perhaps it should be reconsidered … but I haven’t seen anything.

In a surprising move The World Bank, whilst still stressing support for the country, has decided to close a number of projects … one in agriculture another in the energy sector and a third on the automation of the Finance Ministry … as “unsatisfactory” or “unsuccessful”.

In another surprising move, it’ been announced that as from next week, people can only buy SIM cards for their mobile phones by signing  contract with a service provider and for that they will need to produce their passport.  The idea, it is said, is to eventually identify the phone so that stolen phone will be useless and more easily located.  Those of us with phones already will have a year to “register” their phones … after that, the phones will not work.

 

 

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Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there has been the following postcards:

It is possible to follow me on Facebook, (where we also have specific pages for Celestial Mountains, the Silk Road Lodge, The Celestial Mountains Guesthouse in Naryn  and also links.kg, Kyrgyz Diary and Kyrgyzstan Visitki … and not forgetting ianbek), and also on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

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