Yashng!

Khurshid Faizullaev

YASHANG!

Probably like the majority of people around the world, I always thought that my grandfather was one of the strongest and the smartest of all grandfathers. It turns out I was quite right. His oomph was unequalled, his mind as clear as a newborn’s until the end of his days.

The first thing I think of when I remember my grandfather was the strength of body and soul. As the stoic of our family, he was the standard bearer of ethics, morals and lifestyle.

My first memory of Doda was his walks with me, him taking me to kindergarden every morning. I don’t know, and probably never will, whether he used to take me to kindergarden voluntarily or because he had to, but those walks showed me my grandfather in a different light, he was less serious, made many jokes, and smiled more. He was happy.

Doda operated under the rules of act and be yourself everywhere, whether at work or home. Unlike many other families, we all knew how he was at work and his colleagues knew how he lived at home – under a strict discipline, environment of knowledge, respect towards each member of the family and society. He hated wasting time and small talk was not his favourite activity. Whenever traditional Uzbek greetings were exchanged, especially on the phone, he would cut anyone short and ask for the purpose of the call instead of asking them from the person on the other end of the phone about how the uncle of the husband of his or her sister was. He treated gossip the same way, and never to encourage it would keep conversations short, unless of course the topic was academic. However, the other side of the coin was that he would be very attentive and supportive if someone was in need for help.

My grandfather was an extraordinary person. Unlike many veterans of the Second World War, he would prefer never to talk about the War and I would hear about his heroics from other people, how he was wounded, good and horrible stories that happened in those difficult times.

When my parents would buy me new clothes, or shoes, I would show them off to my grandfather, he would propose to exchange our clothes, at which point I would seriously give it a thought, never even having the slightest idea that he might be joking.

My grandfather was strict not only on other people but also on himself. On the one hand he was a great tactician with an accurate political mind. On the other, he was a very direct and honest person, not afraid to show what he thought and always prepared for a scientific battle. Until the end, he would work 14 hour days, writing books and articles. His dream was for his children, and future generation of Faizullaevs to become leading scientists, no matter what subject. He would advise me to write and publish any articles, and that was the ultimate currency that he could earn in this life.

When I left to Europe to study, my grandfather, whenever he got a chance, used to tell me: “O’g’lim, senga bitta so’z bor: AQL”. That meant, use your brain in everything you do. Every time afterwards I used to leave home, he would say to me, “Which word”? And I would have to respond “AQL!”

Doda was the originator of my interest in the cosmos; interestingly, he probably was the originator of many people’s curiosity in space and time, as he used to teach Astronomy in the 10th grade at school, when he was in the 10th grade himself!

One of my grandfather’s virtues was his lack of interest in money. However hard working or gifted he was, he would still work for the sake of science and knowledge. Money for him was truly the means to live, rather than the end to life. Once I asked him why he is not interested in money, to which he wittily responded, even Bill Gates can eat only one plate of plov at lunch. He was against all waste, and when I wouldn’t finish my meal, he would finish it for me, saying “my father ate fish”, which meant that once his father ate the rest of the fish that my grandfather didn’t finish.

The latter was probably due to the fact that he was the main breadwinner of his family from a very young age, survived the famine of 1930s, the War in 1940s, and helped rebuild some parts of the city in 1950s. He was part of the rare generation that saw the script in the country go from Arabic to Latin, then to Cyrillic, and then back to Latin. He lived in Turkestan, the Uzbek SSR and Independent Uzbekistan, and yet managed to be true to his principles. He travelled in Asia, Europe and remembered all details about his experiences. He once told me how he travelled to Karachi some 40 years before then, and saw a banner with the word “Bank”, and how that was pronounced in different intonation in Pakistan than in Uzbekistan. When he came to see us in London, instead of resting, he wrote a piece on the differences between the translations of Koran, and how slight variations changed the meaning of Koran’s parts.

My grandfather had probably the best memory that I have ever known. He could tell stories to the smallest details even if they were 70 years old. He could remember the names and I have never seen him trying to remember anything, as it his mind was always prepared to call up any information at any given moment. He was also an extremely modest man humbled by his ancestors.

Doda never learnt how to drive even though cars existed before he was born. He would prefer public transports. Until the end, he preferred to take the tram to being driven or the bus to a taxi. He never accepted lifts from anybody, and I guess in his mind he did not want to inconvenience anyone.

Doda used to have expressions that never left him. One of them was “yashang”, which I later on inherited. This word had a deep meaning for him, it was a way to wish someone well and this one word could describe a lot about my grandfather. He would never say a bad word about anyone, would always be complimentary and encouraging. He had a strong internal confidence that allowed him to never bully, or be arrogant despite all his strength.

When he was alive, many times I caught myself thinking that he would be a great Army General with his authority, confidence and uncompromising nature. But I came to realise that it would be too big a loss for the academia if he were to become a General.