Happy Independence Day vs. Victory Day!

And here comes the much anticipated, as all the other celebrations that result in a long weekend, Independence Day!

Having lived here for just over three and a half years, I am rarely as excited about the event as most of my friends, particularly because I have never been big on fireworks!

The closest equivalent of the US Independence Day back in Russia is by far May 9th, the traditional day when first the USSR, and now its principal successor state, Russia, proudly marks "Victory Day" as its most sacred of all public holidays.

Probably the only other public celebration that can easily beat the V Day in Russia is Dec 31st, New Year's Eve. The pompousness of Christmas in the West has always bewildered me, and yet I've always felt slightly jealous because we don't have a remotely similar grandeur over Christmas back home, which by the way takes place on January 7th. Nothing compares the vivaciousness in the streets of Moscow on New Year's Eve - every family celebrates it like the joy and festivity of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year all assembled into one night, December 31st, when the President of Russia makes his annual speech broadcasted on every Russian channel exactly at midnight.

Unusual to talk about New Year's celebrations on a humid July afternoon, isn't it. But it really is the biggest public festivity back home that brings people closer for that one night when everything seems hopeful, positive and brand new. May 9th is fun, albeit somewhat bureaucratic, whereas December 31st is what the whole year is all about. I am sure it is a big deal everywhere, but since Christmas seems to be the "ultimate" in the western world, we just make up for it altogether a week later on our side of the pond!

I still remember the night of Dec. 31st - Jan. 1st, 1993-1994 in Moscow, on Stariy Arbat (Old Arbat) Street in the very heart of the city - the night when the first President of the post-Soviet Republic of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was allegedly killed in Chechnya, and my cousin Ketuta, both 9 years of age, with eyes wide open watched the evening news with my parents in the living room.

Ketuta has still not forgotten the Christmas Tree (we call them the New Year's trees back home, hence the big night) that my dad creatively came up with the night before the celebration.... Christmas trees were a big deal at the time - in order to get a good one, you'd have to look for it all over the city and then pay an absolute fortune (well, for us it was quite a lot), so instead, Dad, being a painter himself, decided to paint a Christmas tree on the wall - literally. We bought small decorations for the "tree" and decorates the wall so beautifully and had so much fun doing it - to us, it really seemed like the most gorgeous Christmas tree in the whole wide world! It's true when they say that the little things are what really counts!

Sorry for getting carried away, but since we were discussing the public holidays, such as the one on this very day, the time machine did its little trick on me yet again.

As for the Independence Day celebrations tonight, everyone seems so excited about it, let's just hope the grey skies permit the excitement to flourish to its maximum potential! I remember every time the weather turned out to be disappointing on the Victory Day back in Moscow, the Mayor of the city used to make the clouds "go away" - not metaphorically but literally - with a click of a button... Quite cool, actually. But can't really be an ecologically "natural" process, can it?

In memory of the ones we love...

As I'm writing these words, I am on a train having just left a vocal session out of town.... Incredible how we remain connected to the rest of the world wherever we are with a click of a button and a solid satellite reception!

The power of a song never ceases to amaze me - we can literally travel back and forth in time as if there's so space between what used to be and has become of it, whatever that "it" may be.

Having spent a wonderful morning in the studio with Ayhan (we're working on a follow up to "Wild", so stay tuned!) I grabbed a quick lunch on my way to the station. And as some of you may have noticed by now, as much as I adore being around friends, there's also something beautiful and serene about one's own company, especially on a gorgeous day like today.

Before I closed my eyes last night, I remembered that today is a birthday of my uncle - someone I was incredibly close to on a special emotional level, someone I admired and looked up to as a child. Obviously we all love and appreciate our families, but I hope it won't come off as a pretentious remark if I say that Georgians tend to be overly protective and immensely attached to their families - and I don't just mean the immediate family, but the cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. Instead of big get-togethers on special occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, we literally invent celebrations and excuses for such big family get-togethers on regular basis. It's definitely a cultural thing.

When I was a little girl, we rarely had dinner at home without a group of guests piling in (some of them unannounced - a very Georgian habit) as the evening progressed. I don't remember ever feeling a lack of company, particularly we still lived in Tbilisi. Incredible as it may sound, the day the civil war broke out in the capital, just a few steps from our neighborhood, my parents dressed me up in my best dress, and through the flying bullets across the town, we caught a taxi on the main road and went over to my grandma's, where my uncle and his family resided as well. I promise you, it was probably one of the most memorable nights I've ever spent, and that was in the middle of a war - literally - right outside the door, while our big, tight family clung on to each other and tried to make the most of the difficult, even scary times that had just knocked on our doors so unexpectedly. Through the lack of electricity, heating, gas, hot water - the basic needs of a modern society - we were happier as ever and together - so very together.

And at times like this, on the day when I remember the ones that are no longer with us, I feel overwhelmed and proud of having had the joy and luck of calling these dear beloved ones my very own family.

If there's a life after this, in whatever capacity that may be.... Well, may they be blessed and proud of what they left behind.... And may all your loved ones be well and healthy, for I believe there's nothing as important to us as the knowledge of the happiness and well-being of those who are most dear to us.

On a positive note, please watch this beautiful video sent to me by my friend, Darrison - you won't regret it.

Peace and love to you all,

Tinatin xxx

P.S. Duduko, dzalian menatrebi...