#62-Pashinyan- The Other Side of the World

ՆԻԿՈԼ ՓԱՇԻՆՅԱՆ. ԵՐԿՐԻ ՀԱԿԱՌԱԿ ԿՈՂՄԸ
62. եւ Աստված ասաց` լույս լինի

Կիկուձի սանի ձեռքը սեղմեցի, Յուկիկո սանի ձեռքը համբուրեցի ու մի վերջին անգամ նայեցի նրա մաքուր աչքերին:

The other side of the world
62. And God said ‘Let There Be Light” - N. Pashinyan


I shook the hand of Kikoutzi San, kissed Yukiko San’s hand and looked at her pure eyes for a final time. After saying goodbye I returned to my hotel. I ate at the hotel restaurant, then with a glass of whisky, I began to imagine about Kikoutzi San’s theory of how God created heaven and earth, Adam and Eve.

“There is a planet in the universe called earth, which spins on its own axis. The earth also turns around a star, called the Sun. The sun warms the plants. Around that planet there is a sky, there is land on that plant, and there is water. On the planet lives Adam. He is like me; he is in my own image. He drinks from the water of the spring, is fed by plants that grow in a corner of the globe where living is very pleasant and that corner of the world is called the Garden of Eden. But Adam is not happy being alone, let there be Eve, and let them live with each other nice and peaceful, let them be fed by the fruits of Eden, love each other, have children and be happy. Adam and Eve are free and natural beings. In order for them to benefit from their freedom they should be able to choose. There is a tree in the Garden of Eden, and I tell Adam and Eve not to eat from the fruit of that tree. If you eat the fruit of that tree, you will be expelled from Eden. But this doesn’t amount to freedom because Adam and Eve hear only one call, only one viewpoint, and, in fact, their freedom is not real. They can’t imagine that despite advice and caution, it is also possible to taste that fruit, even though it’s a sin. But they won’t really be innocent if they’re not conscious of the possibility of sin. They can be innocent only if they understand that they can sin, and then choose not to sin. So let there be Satan so he can tempt and confuse them. Let Adam and Eve choose and taste the fruits of their choice,” the Creator must have written and somehow ‘saved’ it, and what took place is what is described in the Bible. I guess that’s just what happened. I guess before the act of creation heaven and Earth were in a state similar to a computer. If not,, then how come humanity in the 20th century went ahead and created the computer? Kikoutzi San is right. Man is making those discoveries that the Almighty allows him to make. Why didn’t man create the computer in the times of Noah? Because no one would put an electrical saw in the hands of his newborn child since the child can hurt himself and that saw is of no use to the child. Man gives his newborn child an electrical saw when he feels that he has a need for it, that it is important to do so, and that he is old enough to use it and benefit from its use. The same is true of the Creator. What did Noah or the resident of ancient Rome need the computer for? The computer was useful for the man of the 20th century, and He gave that man that which he needed.


***

I decided to go to Vladivostok and from there continue on to Armenia on land. On a fast train, I went from Tokyo to Nicada harbor from where a hauler full of used Japanese cars was going to Vladivostok. That evening our hauler left the Japanese port and the next morning I passed the passport control point in Russia successfully. I went at once to get a ticket because this was Russia where there are millions of Armenians and among those millions of Armenians I have many acquaintances, friends and even family and I didn’t want to meet any of them. That’s why it was important not to stay in one place for long. In the evening I got a ticket for Novosibirsk. I decided to stop here and then try to connect with Zurap and the wise old one, to decide about what to do next. The reader already knows the story of how I stayed at the hotel in Vladivostok. I was going to stay in that hotel only till the evening so I could sleep and rest a little. But that didn’t happen. It was already summer, and Vladivostok was pretty hot and humid. The mosquitoes were bugging me and I was constantly creaking that metal bed on which, as you will remember, the name of the hotel was stamped in black ink. Also stamped were the curtains, the edge of the quilt and the pillow cover. On the side of the little ‘Daewoo’ television set a number had been written in some shade of white. The thin-legged metal table, too, was numbered, as was the chair covered with imitation leather, the small refrigerator, and the toilet seat—in short, everything was numbered. The only things left unnumbered, in white ink, were the backs of the visitors.

It just wasn’t possible to stay in this room for long, especially since the window opened into the street and the honking of the cars filled my room. I couldn’t shut the window because there was no fan and the heat was suffocating. Anyway, I decided to go to town; maybe a glass of beer would help and I could also get something to eat. So I’m walking on the street and I spot a peaceful little grove. It was a green park where a lot of people were walking around and the children were playing in the sand. The shade of the trees was pleasant; they were selling ice-cream and I decided to get one. I was walking along, licking my ice cream, when I noticed two policemen. I sensed that when they saw me their eyes started to shine. I continued to walk; they were coming in my direction. One was an officer, the other a sergeant:

“Visiting us, whore?”

“Sorry? I didn’t get it.”

“What’s there not to get, Khatchik, you whore. Let’s have your passport.”

I had already been traveling around the world for a few months but this was the first time that a policeman had approached me. I took out my passport and showed it to the policeman. The officer was confused for a moment. He had called me Khatchik, which meant that he expected my passport to be Armenian or Russian. But he saw a Serbian passport. He didn’t expect that, but it made him happy. The officer immediately changed his tone:

“ Oh, Hi! You’re one of our brother Serbs?” he asked.

“Yes, sir!” I said as much in a non-Armenian way, as I could.

“Are we gonna piss on those garbage in NATO, or what?” said the policeman, with enthusiasm.

“What’s more, we’re gonna piss on them in urinals,” I further stimulated his enthusiasm.

“Welcome to Russia,” said the policeman.

“Serving the Soviet Union!” I said, smiling.

At that, the policemen relaxed, saluted me and returned my passport.

“If you have any problems, call us,” they said, and left.

I walked around a little in the grove, then back on the street where after a while I came across what looked like a restaurant and went in. They were serving fried potatoes, fried chicken legs and similar things. I ate, drank a large glass of beer, then checked out the Russian girls sitting at the next table (I thought one of them was Armenian). They giggled when they saw me looking at them. Then I got up and left.

On the streets of Vladivostok the cars were basically Japanese, with right hand steering wheels. These were basically used cars which were imported at a very cheap price. In short, there were very few Russian or European cars in Vladivostok.

I went to the hotel again, somehow I took a shower, played with the TV channels a little bit, laid down for a while, then showered again. The hours passed. Then I put my belongings in the only suitcase I had and decided to go to the train station. When I was turning in the key, I found out that I would have to go up to my room again in the company of the woman who worked at the hotel so that the latter would make sure that I hadn’t stolen anything from the room—as if there was anything worth stealing! This, too, was happening to me for the first time in my long journey. In no other place in the world are you submitted to this kind of inspection after you’ve left the room. You just say goodbye, and you leave—after settling your account, or course. But here, as if the rate they charge isn’t enough, they have to make sure that you haven’t stolen their “Daewoo” television set.

I got to the train station in a cab. I was lucky that the Russian trains had started using first class wagons with washrooms. The first class cabin, in which I would travel to Novosibirsk, was for two. When I settled in, there was no one else, but in half an hour a forty-year old man appeared, well-dressed, with a pretty expensive watch on his wrist and a pretty expensive cell phone. I thought, I could have bought a cell phone, but it was already too late. Okay, so this guy and I were to travel together. But I forgot to mention the most important thing. When I was walking around in Vladivostok I saw a big supermarket and went in with the hope of finding Armenian cognac. I did. I bought three bottles of three star “Ararat” cognac, got to the hotel, opened one of the bottles and drank it strait from the bottle; I must have drunk half of it. For the first time in the last four months I tasted my fatherland. And I felt that I was very close to the realization of my goal and was approaching Armenia from the other side of the world.