September 08, 2017

The Teacher


The Teacher
Tamara Ivanovna Sudakova (and Vasya). {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

By now we thought we had seen it all. But one should never forget to be ready to be surprised.

From downtown Krasnoyarsk, a half-hour drive through dense forests takes us to a thriving village of 2000 in the city’s northern “suburbs.” A nicely kept house on a dusty, rutted street is home to Tamara Sudakova and her daughter Nina. Tamara’s son Vladimir comes out through a brilliantly painted blue and yellow fence to greet us. He is tall and imposing, but offers a ready smile and a firm handshake. A retired crane driver, he has come to spend the afternoon with us while we interview his mother. And, he is quick to point out, he has driven here, so he cannot join in imbibing.

Imbibing? Um, we came here to work!

First, there is this. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

Vladimir and family are having none of it. “We are Russians, we can’t help ourselves,” he laughs, pointing to a long table stacked with fresh vegetables, potatoes, chicken, mushrooms, and of course vodka.

Misha, who never touches vodka, was adamant that he could not partake in the many toasts over the meal. This leaves Nadya and I to hold up the team’s end of the toasting, pitted against a very strong home team in the person of Nina.

Nonetheless, thanks to the sobering quantities of food, we were able to hold our own, and soon enough were allowed to get down to work and interview Tamara.

And what an interview it was. 

* * *

Tamara Ivanovna, like her son, has a long, distinguished northern European visage. The 100-year-old skin below her eyes sags, giving her the appearance of someone who is very sad, yet Tamara is nothing of the sort. She is incredibly loquacious, with a very detailed memory, and has a great sense of humor. All it takes is one question and she relates a 15-minute story, never tiring. On some topics, she laughs repeatedly between thoughts, as if to underscore the irony of something she endured.

Vladimir in the limelight, so to speak. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

Vasya the cat walks across the frame of Misha’s video, finally settling onto my feet, providing serious warming where none was needed.

Tamara was born in the village of Volkova, two months after the start of the February Revolution, and her family was made up of hard-working, modestly successful farmers. As a result, in 1930 their modest wooden home was requisitioned to be the village hospital. They were declared kulaks and sent to Magocha (about 500 km from Chita), then to the village of Tupik (“Dead End”), 100 km north of Magocha, and then finally to Krasnoyarsk. Here Tamara got an education and then pursued a long career as a schoolteacher and school administrator in a nearby village.

Interior scene. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

This helps explain how she can command a room, and why she is such a great storyteller. And perhaps why she began to compose poetry – really good poetry, by the way – that she recites for us with very little prompting (she has hundreds of poems, but unfortunately none of them have been written down). She shows a memory and recall like no centenarian we have met on this trip.

Here is one of the chastushkas she offered

У меня под окном
Новая беседка.
У меня мужа увела
Новая соседка.
Но она о том не знала,
Что мужик мой пьяница.
А я теперь переживаю,
Что он обратно явится.

Beneath my window
There’s a new arbor.
My husband’s hooked up
With our new neighbor.
But she doesn’t know
That the man’s a drunk.
And now I worry
He might just come back.

And yet that is still not all: Tamara Ivanovna is also a centenarian eco-maker. She knits beautiful, nearly indestructible floor coverings from plastic bags. As we left (yes, after more feasting and vodka), she gifted us each with one, which we are taking to our far-flung corners of the world, along with her poetry and stories.

One of Tamara's creations. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955