By Vestnik Kavkaza
Banin's memoir is a bright piece of the literary mosaic of the Parisian exile. The style of the memoir is similar to the books of the wife of Georgy Ivanov, Irina Odoetseva "On the banks of the Neva River" and "On the Banks of the Seine River." They both wrote about Parisian émigré circles and about their youth. The youth of Odoetseva took place on the Neva River, and the youth of Banin - on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Banin was friends with Teffi, she knew Remizov, Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Lossky and Berdyaev, Ivan Bunin was even in love with her. The most interesting part of her memoir is the description of her time spent in the Caucasus. An autobiographical book by Banin with the same title, published right after the Second World War, is imbued with satire and self-irony. It is a kind of encyclopedia of the life of residents of Baku, which became rich during the oil boom, very personal writing, showing a great understanding of what was happening by the author.
Banin, also know as Umm el-Banu Asadullayeva, granddaughter of two Azeri millionaires Musa Nagiyev and Shamsi Asadullayev, was born in the year of the first Russian revolution. Her family's wealth was so great that it brought them disaster. Money appeared in the family thanks to the oil boom. Her grandfather, a simple farmer who herded a flock on a small piece of rocky land, in a flash turned into a millionaire, when a gusher was discovered there.
Banin's second grandfather, Agha Musa Nagiyev, one of the richest Baku oil industrialists, was known as a miserly man. Many people talked about his avarice and the stories were often very controversial. But after this grandfather died, it became known that he had given huge loans to people he did not know well without any collateral or receipts, trusting them. In addition, he covered the tuition of many poor boys and girls. Agha Musa was also famous for constructing magnificent buildings in Baku. It was his weakness. When his only son Ismail died of tuberculosis, he commemorated him by building a wonderful building, the "Ismailiyya", where later in history the short-lived parliament of the Independent Republic of Azerbaijan had its headquarters.
Nagiyev had been kidnapped twice for huge ransoms. But Banin's grandfather managed to deal with all the troubles. In those years Baku was marked by frequent kidnappings, and American gangsters were kids in comparison to the local "gochu". Like their American colleagues, the "gochu" always acted carefully and judiciously, according to a plan. They received great help from the Russian gendarmes, the main advisers to the local bandits. The "gochu" were never persecuted. On the contrary, they were even treated with respect and awe. After being released, people never talked about what the kidnappers had done to them. But it seemed that they were well fed and treated well. Upon the receipt of a ransom they were immediately released. In short, the deal was fair, without any complaints.
1905, the year when the writer was born, was one of the most dreadful years in the history of Azerbaijan and the Russian Empire. It was a year of civil unrest, strikes, clashes and riots. The Azeris and Armenians, who formed the bulk of the population of Baku, were killing each other. The Armenians were better prepared for such a course of events, and committed atrocities in revenge for past insults. Azerbaijanis certainly engraved those events in their memory. Each side pursued its own objectives, making victims of completely innocent people.
At that time the mother of the future writer was hiding from the pogroms in one of the oil towns, cut off from civilization. She was forced to struggle alone with a generic fever, and died leaving a newborn daughter and her three sisters in the care of a German governess.
Fraulein Anna came to Baku from Riga, and had managed to become a mother to the girls. Remembering one of the photographs taken of her and her sisters with the governess, Benin wrote: "the setting was indescribable: a white-faced Northern woman surrounded by dark-haired girls with thick eyebrows and hawk noses." Despite the fact that Fraulein Anna lived in a family of devout Muslims, in a city with eastern symbols, she managed to create a European environment around herself. She told stories, baked cakes with cream, introduced the habit of decorating a Christmas tree and made her foster daughters sing hymns and praise the Lord on Christian holidays.
At the same time, the girls were under the great influence of their grandmother, who, like all Muslim women, performed ablutions and prayers on time, preferred to sit on the floor on mats and cushions, wore a purdach and was strict and unsmiling. Sometimes, on an impulse of religious feelings, the grandmother scolded infidels, did not allow non-Muslims to touch her dishes and distributed items touched by them among the poor. When unknown men approached her too closely, she spat and sworn. The mildest cursing that she used was "son of a bitch."
These two forces created a certain balance in the education of the daughters of the millionaire. By that time, Azerbaijan had long been a colony of Russia and Russian influence was felt there strongly. This influence provided a growing interest in the European lifestyle and new cultures. People preferred freedom to purdach and education to bigotry, especially the younger generation.
Umm el-Banu knew by heart only a small sura from the Qur'an, but was very fond of Muslim holidays. On the day of the vernal equinox, on March 21, Novruz Bayram was celebrated. It was the day when children became rich. They ran from house to house, congratulating relatives and neighbors. Sometimes they fasted so that Allah, seeing their hard work, would make their wishes come true. But there were also religious days that Umm al-Banu did not like. "Those were the days of symbolic mourning for Hussein, who died in Karbala in 680 AH, the son of Imam Ali, and executed members of his family - Maharram. These days of mourning, sacred to Shiite Muslims, do not mean anything for the Sunnis," Banin wrote.
To be continued
