Ilya Varlamov: "Bad Saransk"

"What distinguishes the city from the village? Not the number of inhabitants. And this is not only our problem. Here in the United States is also almost no cities. The endless one -story subourbia for millions of people with a bunch of skyscrapers of the business center is not a city. New York - the city, San Francisco is a city, but some Charlotte should not. At least there should be a person. A certain image accumulated by the centuries, the traditions accumulated by the centuries, the traditions. Energy .

"The so -called Russian cities today go behind the two capitals with a dense peloton and compete with each other only in who will be the first to destroy the tram and who will build the largest and most ridiculous shopping center in the historical center. They think that they are unique in this, that they will find their special path, but history shows the opposite.

And here is another city on the map of Russia. The capital of Mordovia, Saransk. How does it differ from other cities? Will the world notice if Saransk disappears tomorrow? Okay, the world - will Russia notice the disappearance of Saransk? We’ll get worse tomorrow, but there is no Saransk. All. Yes, most of it today will not even find a map. Where is this Mordovia? Somewhere in the taiga? Or behind the Urals? Saransk - he is like an old sweater: sometimes you come across by accident, sorting out things, but you will never wear it again. And if it disappears, you will not notice. This is the main tragedy of provincial Russian cities, large and small. They have already disappeared.

Saransk is not interested in anyone. At the same time, the city often attracts attention. For example, it is in Saransk that Gerard Depardieu was registered. Here one of the stages of the World Cup will be held. Or from here, for example, a doping scandal went. But even federal news is not associated with the city. The village of Bezlik, and no one cares about it. All information farms quickly break away from the nest and already exist on their own.

And so I fly to Saransk. For almost 20 years, Mr. Merkushkin remade him for himself. He sat in the governor’s chair from 1995 to 2013! And now he was sent tightly to the Samara region. Over the years of his reign, Merkushkin created a small personal kingdom on Mordovian land ... "