#44: Nooruz and more

Today when I was waiting in line for my propiska (Soviet-era registration), I overheard a dialogue between an ethnic Kyrgyz policeman and an ethnic Russian technician both working in Leninskiy Passport Department. The policeman, in his early 30s, complained that the technician, in late 50s, blocked the passage as he was fixing something. Then the policeman out of nowhere says "You should respect me today. It is our New Year," meaning Nooruz. The technician responds by saying "It is my holiday, too." However, the policeman makes even more laughable and unbelievably stupid statement. He says "Our new year is Nooruz. Your [meaning ethnic Russian] new year is January 1st."

Unfortunately, over 80 years of living side by side most of the ethnic Russians and ethnic Kyrgyz in Kyrgyzstan continue living in two different dimensions - culturally, politically, and socially. To this day, most Russian landlords would not rent apartments to non-Russians. Moreover, they would advertise their apartments in newspapers with a racist note "only for Europeans," meaning whites, as opposed to “innostrantsy” or foreigners. Both Russians and Kyrgyz (and Uzbeks for that matter) regularly discriminate each other based on ethnicity. Some of it based on believes of racial superiority. Each ethnic group has derogatory name for each other. Kyrgyz call Russians “jün bash,” which literally means “woolhead,” and Russians call Kyrgyz (or Central Asians in general) “churka,” a derivative of “cherniy,” which is black in Russian.