Meltha Magazine Online

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1998, Volume 4, No.1(8) page 5

I AM A DAUGHTER OF THE PEOPLE KNON FROM BIBLICAL TIME

Actually I was born in Russia in a true Assyrian family. My parents came from Turkey. They had to flee, when the war began, in a mass flight along with thousands of Assyrians trying to find refuge in the Orthodox Russia. I was born in Moscow in 1937. My two beloved brothers Arthur and Emmanuel were born in Moscow too. In one of my poems I named 1937 "the darkest year of the world". It was the year when my father Shumanov Uk11an Bet-Ishoo was al1"ested and persecuted. In March 1938 he was executed. So we al~ became orphans. I was the only 6 months old. My parents were native residents of Jilu. My father descended from a prince's family Bee Mandu, which dates back to ancient times. Actually that was the reason of his detention and then his untimely death. From early days I felt pride for my father and my grandfather. I shall never forget the joy I felt at my heart when I listened to old men's stories. They often came to see us after father was gone. They said of our father and grand- father nice things only. They kept telling us that we are from a noble family, which descends from the royal dynasty Ashurbanipal and Nebukhadnezzar. This all helped us live on in such a perilous time, but things might have really let us down, but for our dear Mother. She always loved, and loved by us, her children. She was a beautiful proud-looking woman. She was kind and courageous altogether and her image was reflected in my books. It so happened that Mamma was everything for me. Then only came Motherland, love, and nature.

I shall keep my love for my dear Mother Asjat till the end, then my "second mother" is Natalia Konchalovskaya, a granddaughter to; the famous Russian artist V. I. Surikov. She used to be "godmother" as she tried to help me set up in the world of art all along. I am grateful to her for the review of my first manuscript of poems, "Magdalena Gruzinova is a real poet". Despite the age difference we became good friends and faired well together in mutual understanding and respect. It is a great loss to me that she is gone now. My God, have mercy on her for her kind Russian heart!

What more can I say? I grew up, and then I was first at school, then at college. But Our Lord spared me to be a writer. And this is both a great fortune and a great ordeal altogether.

Now the some words about my works, I wrote for and was published in newspapers like "Selskaya Zhizny" (a rural newspaper), and "Sovetskaya Rossiya", in journals "Smena", "Sovetskiy Voin" (The Soviet Warrior), "Sovetskaya Zhenschina" (Soviet Woman), "Rossiani" (Russians), "Atra", etc. Besides I have made a lot of radio recordings of my poems and songs. As a matter of fact I like songs. This is my delight. This love, I took it after Mother as well. I still can recall her words, " As long as you look to sing, you live on. But as soon as you give it up, you are old". That's that, I know. A good song can relieve you from anything. When you start a song, your soul soars and heart sings, and life seems not so bad. Poems, this is my life too, but I like prose as well equally. Basically I write stories though. A big novel is still in my plans.

With best regards to readers and "Meltha" worker

Magdalena Gruzinova (Moscow)