My book
All the rights for this manuscript are reserved for the author and her publisher.
I thank you, my Guest Visitor, for your interest and comprehension.
The nightmares started immediately after the first war in Georgia in 1992, when I still lived in Sukhumi. For years, afterwards, I suffered from huge horrible black creatures, which tormented me in my sleep and froze my heart in terror. Sometimes, I would be swallowed by huge waves of the sea from which there was no escape. It was worse than the Russian bombs falling all around me, when I narrowly had escaped death several times. In order to get over this trauma I started writing about my frightening experiences. Putting them on paper helped. That is how my Narrative got started.
This story is not about Revenge, and it is not a Political Propaganda. I love Russian culture, as much as I love Russian people. In spite of what had happened in the past, in spite of the two Russian-Georgian wars, the Georgians and the Russians both do understand each other perfectly well. Our culture is different, our languages are fundamentally different, but these two nations are tightly connected to each other through centuries.
My Narrative is about a lost Paradise, my Paradise, my ache and my love; it is about my Homeland, the homeland I can never go back to, or call it “My Home”. I am Swiss now. I learned to love my second home as much as I do my first one. My mentality went through "transformation" as well, and I am more Swiss than Georgian now.
I am proud of my Georgian origins. My origin never allowed me to falter or become weaker in any situation. In spite of the impossible conditions my destiny was throwing me into, in fact, it was making me stronger. My Georgian roots are ancient, deep and really powerful, like Steel; it's also like an ancient Oak tree; you cut off the old trunk, and there grows a young new tree, stronger than ever, more powerful than ever. When I started making my Family Tree I realised how complicated, but how very interesting was to trace down my Baronet ancestors' family from my mother's lineage. It was an amazing thing to discover so many remarkable people among them. The knowledge of my past made me very confident of myself indeed.
Yes, now I am a new person. I have a very interesting new life. And I have a new passion.
But should I forget my past? How could I ever forget the feeling that the main character of my Narrative experienced?
I took the photo bellow from the internet. It is from the second Russian-Georgian war in August, 2008. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of that brave war correspondent who took it. I was in Georgia when the war started, having summer holidays in Batumi with my family. Actually, at the very moment, when this photo had been made, I was fleeing the Russian bombs with my family myself, trying to get to a safer place. We got safely out of it.
This woman had not been so lucky. She had been mutilated by an exploded bomb nearby.
For me, this is a “Horrible Face” of ANY WAR IN THE WORLD.
(From the Book)
“At two in the morning the first explosion caught the sleeping town by surprise, shaking it mercilessly. It came as a shock, as it always did during the other cease-fire periods. It meant that one more ceasefire agreement had been broken and the attack had started.
Suddenly, rockets were flying all over around, before they reached targets and went off into small pieces, demolishing everything in the vicinity. The enemy had launched rockets from the closest mountains, sending shells towards the residential quarters of the town. The heavy artillery shelling was combined with the air bombardments engulfing the whole area in a big fire. The town in the dark was shaken awake and lit up by deathly bright light. The very bright light that carried only the darkness around.
Nia sat straight up in her bed as she heard the first explosions and looked around in horror. Before she could realise what was happening, another ear-splitting roar cut into the air, and this time so close to the building that it violently shook both, the ground and the building. The deafening blast of explosion broke the window and door glasses into thousands of small splinters that were heavily showered down onto her bed. That finally brought her to her senses. She quickly run her hands all over her body, feeling for any injuries. Miraculously, she found none. In a fraction of a second she was on her feet, looking for her friend.
Theona was sitting bolt upright in her own bed and her bulging, disoriented eyes were moving around in disbelief; she did not understand what was happening.
Nia could only with difficulty reach out to pull her up from the bed as the violent force of the third explosion knocked the girls to the floor. The room shook, but the walls stubbornly withstood the blow. In sheer agony they both screamed simultaneously and covered their ears with their hands, momentarily losing their sense of hearing.
The girls, scared to death, looked up helplessly, not having any idea what to do next. Neither of them remembered David’s security rules. From the huge holes, where the windows had been not so long ago, they saw a huge fire burning. The rocket had hit a small side building for the laundry and had sent it into flames.
Grabbing each other by the shoulders both of them crawled under Theona’s bed. Then suddenly Nia heard David’s calm voice. ‘If necessity arises you must immediately seek the nearest underground shelter. Stay calm! Don’t panic! Just crawl if you have to, but get there as fast as you can!’
That was exactly what they were going to do now. She pulled her friend from under the bed. The girl was chalk-white by now from the sheer horror of what was happening around. As the fourth rocket thundered over them Nia raced to the ground floor through the long corridor, dragging Theona with her.” End of the excerpt from the novel.
Maybe I should also forget the sunsets over the Black Sea? Well, it is impossible! They still are one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen quite a lot of them in different countries.
I, quite often now, download photos of my Homeland from the internet, since I hadn't been able to save our private photos from my previous life and our beloved Sokhumi. However, I took this photo myself during my holidays at the Black Sea Coast, but at a different place.
(From the book)
“Not really willing to start baking, she took her time lazily, and looked out from the window. Their apartment was on the last floor of the building and had a lovely view of the sea. It was a very pleasant evening just like it used to be during the peace time.
She watched the sunset on the horizon. It was spectacular in the evening light. The sun that looked like an immensely big, round ball, was lazily going down into the sea, bathing all around in red and orange, and slowly touching the horizon. Suddenly, as if touched by a wand, the sky and the sea also turned into the same bright aquarelle colours. Nia watched on mesmerized. As the sun continued sailing deeper into the water, the water took the reflection of the fading sun’s red and orange glow. The whole sky now was illuminated by the brilliant orange sunset between the clouds and the sea.
She drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. That unobstructed view all the way to the horizon and the calm vastness of the sea gave her an immense feeling of freedom. She could stretch out her arms like wings and fly happily into that magic world of the gleaming colours.
Nia could not concentrate on the present. Her mind drifted away again, looking towards the coast and trying to reach the shore of the sea with her eyes.
There under that water, somewhere close to the shore, there lay the ruins of the ancient town of Dioscuria, one of the first settlements built by the Greeks in the ancient time, between seventh and sixth century B.C. How many times during the Soviet rule, when she had worked as a guide-interpreter for the international tourist agency, had she presented this gem of classical mythology to foreign tourists and explained how the town was built. According to the mythology, Jason and his trusty companions, Argonauts, sailed to the Black Sea to claim the Golden Fleece from Aeetes, the king of Colchis. Castor and Polux, twin brothers known as Dioscuri in Greek, were among the sailors. The brothers were so enchanted by the beauty of the coast that they decided to stay there when the Argonauts sailed back to Greece. The brothers settled down and built a settlement that was named after them. The town of Dioscuria was subsequently busily engaged in commerce between the Greeks and the local Colchian tribes. With time the sea made serious inroads upon the town, and now most of it was submerged.
Nia felt melancholic. Sukhumi bay was beautiful, as it had always been, and she adored it.
Like a true daughter of Colchis she loved the Sea, the sunsets over it and the dawns in the mornings. She loved the Black Sea with its waters, sometimes so peacefully calm, when it had that breathtakingly beautiful colour of turquoise-blue shades. In bad weather it would become real violent, dark and stormy. It was fierce and menacing for those, who tried to challenge and tame the sea in that weather. The Black Sea had a character, and she loved it even more because of it.”
