| A beauty contest was held for the first time in post-war Chechnya On Saturday, the first beauty contest in the history of post-war Chechnya was held in Grozny. The history of post-war Chechnya already included the foundation of a water park, a bike show with a rock concert, and a visit by former world boxing champion Mike Tyson. The contrast of each of these events with the devastation, tens of thousands of people left homeless and the ongoing shelling of police columns again and again reduced them to absurdity. Saturday's competition, of course, also had this gloomy background. The ceremony took place under guard and not without some complications. But, probably, even the darkest pessimists saw that Chechnya could be not only scorched and embittered. She may still be young, beautiful and smiling. Vremya Novostei correspondent Ivan SUKHOV visited the revitalizing Grozny.
The bulk of the journalists were brought to the competition by bus from Makhachkala. Those who traveled on their own had to spend a long time explaining where the holiday would be. People who have visited Grozny in the past few years were surprised to learn that the competition would be held in the city, and not in the KPZ, a guarded complex of government buildings. After the question: “Do you know the concert hall behind the monument to Akhmat Kadyrov?” — in my imagination there was a monument that was erected last year on Pobeda Avenue, and behind it a vacant lot fenced off by a fence. It turned out that it was indeed a concert hall.
People were allowed through the narrow gate in the fence strictly according to the list. The list was held in the hands of a hefty Chechen riot policeman. The Dynamo Stadium, where Akhmat Kadyrov died two years ago, is a five-minute walk away. A total of thirty people were present in and around the hall as armed guards - federal SOBR, Chechen police officers and some other very confident people in American-style field uniforms. There was no metal detector “frame” at the entrance - it makes no sense when even many “civilian” guests have a pistol with a couple of spare clips on their belts.
From the walls of the concert hall, “patrons” looked at the audience - the deceased President of Chechnya Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov and the current President of Russia Vladimir Putin. Large air conditioners under the ceiling initially coped with the heavy Grozny stuffiness, but gave up when the hall was completely filled. It is not very large, the state concert hall of the Chechen Republic, it only has about 350 seats - like in the assembly hall of a regular school. There was enough space in the hall mainly for the relatives of the finalists; the rest had to be content with television.
But even a holiday for 20 families is a huge holiday for a city that has long ago lost the habit of holidays. These twenty families came to the competition in their best outfits and with flowers. Many - three to four hours before the start. And it was clear how pleasant it was for people to sit in the rows of the small stalls, meet friends and wait together for the start of the performance.
Then, with some bewilderment, especially those who were older, they looked at the girl group “Strelka” and probably heard the capital’s irony, sometimes against their will, coming through in the voice of the show’s host, the popular actor Dmitry Kharatyan. Who, to his credit, tried his best not to violate the complex and unfamiliar rules of Chechen ethics. And yet these were live “Strelki” and living Kharatyan - not on TV from the “mainland”, but here, in Grozny. And people listened to them, and looked with all their eyes, and applauded, and shuddered, and then sighed with relief after the sharp technical clap of the audio equipment. “Look, people are sitting relaxed, cross-legged,” marveled Gelani, the father of one of the contestants. “It’s so nice after everything that happened.” “After everything that happened, this is a complete waste,” admitted my elderly Grozny acquaintance.
They say about the contestants that they are the bravest of the beautiful. Even before the last war, beauty contests were not held in particular esteem in Chechnya, because they do not fit well with traditions. Before the start of the holiday, skepticism was clearly visible on the faces of the Chechen riot police. This did not stop them from enthusiastically looking at the booklet with the portraits of the participants and wondering who would win. And when the girls took the stage, the riot police huddled together in one tight support group and took pictures of the beauties with their mobile phones. It is very inconvenient to support and take pictures with a phone when the other hand is equipped with a Kalashnikov.
Gelani did not want to let his daughter go to the competition. “At first I didn’t know anything until she reached the second round. I said that's not the point. Milana, in her senior year, shrugged her shoulders and said: okay, it will be even easier for me to pass the exams. And then they came from the government and said: she’s already an adult with you, she doesn’t only belong to you. And I agreed."
Gelani's daughter Milana did not make it to the finals, he was upset and did not watch the competition to the end. But his youngest daughter, small and already very beautiful Khadiska, looked with all her eyes and said that when she grows up, she will also participate. She said it in Chechen. “You’re the first civilian Russian she’s seen,” Gelani explained. “I saw a lot of soldiers and officers, but not civilians.” In general, she knows Russian well.”
Gelani lives in Berdyken, a suburb of Grozny. There he has a large garden on the banks of one of the Argun riverbeds. Gelani fought, but that was a long time ago, in 1973, “in the Egyptian-Israeli war, on the side of the Soviet Union.” During the current war, his family decided not to leave Chechnya. Now he works as a welder and says that every seam he makes is as beautiful as any of the girls competing.
Gelani is very glad that changes for the better have begun in Chechnya. “In winter, the government began round-the-clock work to restore Grozny. This was a week before the peak of the cold weather. On the first night, many came out, but did not want to work. I told them: “We were brave to stand in the trenches in this city at night, so now let’s be brave to work.” And during the first night we welded 2500 meters of heating mains. And Ramzan Kadyrov also came out and was with us all night, with his militants. You know, he is a man with a planetary mind. This is a link that hasn’t existed before.”
“Isn’t it scary when everything is closed to one person?” - I asked. - “It’s not scary. Death is always nearby. There’s no need to be afraid of her, it’s better to take her hand and move on.”
“I don’t tell you everything I think, because every person is on the tip of his tongue,” Gelani continues. - Yes, there is still a lot of bad things. The smog still hangs. But the shelf movement has already begun beneath it. People are tired of destruction. They are starting to rebuild. Let there be a movement of two fingers, but it is a movement, and if we don’t do it, no one will. Ramzan started a lot of things and little by little achieved movement from all sides. You know, there was a destructive tsunami, and now there will be a restorative tsunami.”
The “owner of the planetary mind” himself did not come to the competition, although he was expected. When Dmitry Kharatyan read his name in the list of thanks to the organizers, dozens of heads moved restlessly: will he be included? Ramzan Kadyrov appeared only in Gudermes, where the contestants and journalists were taken for lunch. There the girls had to repeat almost the entire competition performance for him.
Only First Deputy Prime Minister Odes Baysultanov was present at the main event from the government. But the Kadyrovs were often remembered there anyway. “Thank you Akhmat-haji for stopping the war,” said almost every girl. The title “Beauty of Chechnya” was won by tenth-grader Zamira Dzhabrailova, who - the only one - from the very beginning uttered words of gratitude to Ramzan Kadyrov. Although this is most likely a coincidence: even completely independent guests predicted victory for her at first glance at the photograph.
In general, almost all participants won in one category or another. Daughter Gelani, for example, won the Miss Smile category. Some received two or three awards at once. Ilona Chachaeva, 22, who is studying medicine in Moscow and wants to become a plastic surgeon, was crowned both Miss Artistry and Miss Friendship. And then, quite unexpectedly, as a sign of sympathy from the government of the republic, she also received the keys to the “seven”.
There was even some confusion with the cars: the beauty queen was entitled to a Toyota, and the first and second runners-up were entitled to a “ten”. They forgot to give the keys to one of the “dozens” to the owner, but the chairman of the jury, director of “Beauty of Russia” Tatyana Andreeva swore that all valuable gifts would definitely reach the nominees. And Odes Baysulatonov was apparently so touched by the tears of one of the girls who did not reach the highest step of the podium that after the final he gave her another set of keys.
Everything together turned out a little like a strange skit: the gentle sighs of “Strelok” contrasted greatly with the Chechen rock group “Dead Dolphins”, who sang about ashes, the memory of war and the children of hell. And the Moscow singer Pascal clearly lost to two very little girls who sang a long and beautiful Chechen song in their native language.
When the Vainakh ensemble was dancing, even the Russian SOBR, who were still bored on the street, came into the hall with amateur video cameras. In my opinion, this is the world.
On the streets of Grozny, peace also became very noticeable. Some European journalists complained that the hall was stuffy, there was no buffet and nowhere to drink water. But the people who said that most likely did not see Grozny six years ago - a depopulated heap of ruins.
Ismail, an Ossetian who was born and raised in Grozny and regularly carries passengers there from Vladikavkaz, having driven onto Pobeda Avenue, is surprised: “Have they really laid asphalt?” The city center has changed since November last year, the time of my last visit. New buildings, new pavements, new construction sites. Over the previous six years, he had not changed as much as during these six months. Everywhere, despite the day off, people are working - cleanup is now every week.
It's like some kind of mood switch has been triggered. And when you see these working people, these bulldozers, these traffic lights appearing on the streets, you really want everything to work out. So that the rubble is cleared, foundations are laid, so that the skeleton of the Drama Theater named after Nuradilov is overgrown with forests, so that new cafes open and families with small children come to them without fear.
“They are actually hard workers, Chechens,” says taxi driver Ismail. “They go all the way in everything they do.” They fight until it stops and work until it stops. I worked with them, it is very difficult to work with Chechens. Because they always want to be ahead and do more. And then they dance, can you imagine?” Ivan SUKHOV, Grozny - Moscow |
|
