“My dear girl, go and drink for a week so you can understand what I’m saying. You can’t ask serious questions to a sober man. Now, when you go and gather information from political activists, don’t you understand that it’s unethical to ask serious questions to a man who has been drinking for 13 days?” jokes taxi driver Albert and laughs at what he says.
“Geghamyan is still sober”
Most taxi drivers of Yerevan are light-headed and that’s why they need a lot of energy to focus on an issue. “People become pessimistic after wining,” joked one of the drivers and asked me not to ask him questions about serious issues. I decided not to talk about serious topics and simply listen to what they had to say. For example, according to Albert, leader of the “Azgayin Miabanutyun” (National Unity) party and National Assembly deputy Artashes Geghamyan is still sober and that’s why he’s making “crazy” announcements.
“Gagik Tsarukyan and Serge Sarkisyan are also sober because there’s something behind them being silent. When someone wakes Geghamyan up, know that Serge and Gagik are also awake. A person’s senses get weak after eating and drinking a lot; he either gets very active or doesn’t react at all. I am so tired of hearing the stupid announcements of our political activists. First they shock the people with their announcements and then they do whatever someone else says so much that it makes you sick. They want to attract the people’s attention with their announcements, get a reputation, appear in the public eye, but believe me that we have seen so much immorality and obscenity that we have already become indifferent towards even the most obscene. Do you want me to tell you something? When they publicly executed Saddam Hussein, on the one hand I felt sorry, but on the other hand I felt at ease. Now they should investigate the past of our current authorities, bring it all to the surface, see how many murders there have been, how many people have lost their lives, how many people have received moral and material damages. You’ll see that they deserve to be punished just like Hussein. But you’re not a generous girl at all…I told you that we taxi drivers are sober, don’t talk to us…One can’t hold back his aggression in times like these and says whatever he wouldn’t say when he’s not sober. I’ll tell you something…the good thing is that I didn’t work until the 13th of January. I looked at the ice on the streets and thanked God that I wasn’t out driving on the streets. I felt sorry for the drivers; they were driving with so much fear as if they were skiing,” said Albert and drove off slowly and carefully.
The Santa Clauses and Snow Whites from 1941
Driver Suren was embarrassed in front of his grandchildren during New Years’ because, as he says, Santa Clause and Snow White “made him angry”. He searched for a long time at the Republic Square of Armenia and didn’t find a good Santa Claus and Snow White. The Santa Clauses and Snow Whites made Suren spend all his money for their services. “Did you see the Santa Clauses and Snow Whites at the Republic Square? I took my grandchildren so they could have some fun. Damn, where do they find those raggedy clothes from? They looked like the Santa Clauses from 1941. They construct all these Euro buildings, but the Santa Clauses looked like they were from the time when Stalin was ruling the country. You simply say hello to them and they ask for money. The idea of a Santa Claus is to give and not to ask for. My grandchild looked at the Santa Claus for a long time and said to me ‘Grandpa, Santa Claus’s beard is ripped’. I took that Santa Claus by the arm, pulled him aside and told him ‘hey man, fix your beard’. He came back and said to my grandchild ‘oh, my grandchild, Santa Claus came to Armenia from Laplandia and is starting to melt’. I pulled him aside again and told him ‘my friend, it’s freezing cold here, say something convincing, or else my grandchild is going to ask me questions later.’ They don’t even have a good script prepared and want to be Santa Claus. They look like the Santa Clauses and Snow Whites taken out of the archive. They ask for money like beggars; you don’t know whether they’re out there just for the sake of it or to make the children happy,” says Suren and suggests the municipal authorities to license the Santa Clauses and Snow Whites next year, otherwise they won’t enjoy their fame.
“I missed the spoiled cats”
Driver Ruben is such an interesting interlocutor that you can talk with him for hours. He feels bad about the irregularities of transportation in Yerevan and assures that he doesn’t believe in the transportation reforms. “What reforms? How much technical equipment do they have to bring in order to control the streets? There aren’t even any traffic lights in the 15th district and now they’re thinking about putting traffic lights to follow-up on drivers. Laws are not applied in Armenia. For example, if I violate the law, I confess that I have made a violation; but when I don’t and they claim that I have, that’s when I get frustrated. There is a lack of trust among Armenians. The rich drive over the pedestrians on the streets and the police pretend not to see that,” says Ruben who just returned to Armenia after living in Greece for eight years. He had a taxi service in Greece with two cars and earned a good living. He has opened a store and runs his own business. “The streets of Yerevan are horrible after driving on the streets of Greece. There are no numbers on buildings, you can’t find the names of streets, there is no numbering. I’m a pedagogue by profession and I can assure you that nobody appreciates the work of the taxi driver. As a pedagogue, I adore the new generation; there a lot of great kids, they are very smart. I have contact with them and I see that we have beautiful and intellectual children growing up. There are mature young people. This is a progressive and developing generation. We recently invited a couple from abroad to Armenia. They loved Armenian youth, you can’t imagine how much they praised Armenian youth. For example, while in Greece, I often used to stand by the schools at 9 a.m. You should have seen what was going on there. Third and fourth grade students were buying and drinking beer during recess. One child had a cigarette in his hand, another was drinking beer and I can’t even find words to describe what they were wearing. Girls were coming out to smoke, drink; it was horrible. If one of the teachers scolds the children or gives a warning, the student has the right to sue the teacher. Their freedom is intolerable,” says Ruben as he reminisces. He says that he had left for Greece with his family, but he used to escape to Armenia from time to time. “The longing was killing me. We were living in a high-story building here. There were two spoiled street cats; whenever I saw them near our building entrance, I got angry and made them leave. I even missed those cats while in Greece. When I came to Armenia, I had missed those cats so much that I hugged them and caressed them. Life is very hard here, but I can’t live anywhere else; I feel free in Armenia, I feel good. We used to earn a lot in Greece-imagine this: the house rent was 400 Euros, but we were renting the store for 500 Euros and enough was left for the home. But you just don’t fit in; you don’t feel happy being among foreigners. When I came back to Armenia, Yerevan had changed a lot; there are many cafes and restaurants. Then, when I found out during a conversation that many cafes and restaurants belong to just one person, I was very amazed because the city is supposed to serve everyone and not just one person. Another thing: I’m very surprised at the behavior of the oligarchs. For example, in Greece rich people wear simple clothes, drive not too expensive cars and try not to show that they are rich. One time, we were invited to an evening party (the Greeks organize those kinds of parties a lot). We were sitting next to your average man who was no different than the rest of us. He drank whiskey in grams just like us and didn’t differ than the others in behavior. Then we found out that that man was one of the rich people of Greece who had many cars, a horse-riding track and many cafes and restaurants. We were amazed because he was so modest; I mean; he could have been like the Armenian oligarchs and placed a bottle of whiskey in front of him and not drink in grams. If I were to be at a party like that in Armenia with the same kind of people, I’m sure that it would all end in chaos at the end. But no matter what, I love my Homeland,” says driver Ruben who truly amazed me when he refused to take my “tip” after the ride. “Take it back, please. I like to earn my own money; I don’t need extra money. Next time you order a taxi from this service and they send me, don’t do that again,” he says and bids me farewell generously.
Driver Armen likes to spend New Years watching television. “I have always preferred staying at home and watch the holiday programs. This year I was very disappointed because there was nothing good on television. I switched from channel to channel. The programs were pointless and had nothing to do with New Years. To tell you the truth, there was no meaning to those programs; apparently the producers hadn’t worked hard on them. Before, TV producers used to take the New Years’ programs seriously and it seemed as though you could share the happiness you felt watching that program with your family. Now you watch the programs and it’s neither funny, nor something to enjoy. It’s like they’re fooling people and pretending that they have prepared the programs for us. In general, New Years’ was OK, but I don’t like the days that follow. It’s hard, especially when you are forced to drive people around in that mood. It doesn’t take long; people are back to their daily routines in 5-10 days,” says Armen.