We are talking about the Moscow region village of Serebryanye Prudy in the very south of the Moscow region, or rather, in the southeast. Why did I choose this topic for this article? Because I was born here, grew up here and still live here at 46 years old, which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It seems that native places should please, delight, pull, but in this case, my native village evokes complete disgust. And this is honest, and I say it once again as if in confession: “I hate these Serebryanye Prudy of mine! May they fail! This is the most terrible place I have seen in my life.” You will say: if you criticize, then argue, summarize. Okay... I'll start my funny story...
I'll start with my childhood and with the awareness of myself in this geographical place of my birth. I remember a little kindergarten, but mostly school years, which turned out to be not at all wonderful, as the famous old Soviet song goes. It was not a school, but a "torture" chamber of Ivan the Terrible with elements of the Gestapo. I can't remember anything good, although I am not a pessimist at all, but there is enough causticity, irony and sarcasm in moderation.
My school years flew by quickly and with one thought: to leave as quickly as possible, to get out of these Prudy, from this hateful workers' settlement, mired in alcoholism and drug addiction, in the power of thieves, grabbers and old debauchees. I still did not understand much here in those years, but subconsciously I felt it with every fiber of my soul and body. I do not know where these feelings come from and how to explain it, but it was as if I was born with this disgust for this settlement, reminiscent of some kind of ghetto.
Well, what's good here!?! That's how I reasoned even from the age of six. Well, the nature is beautiful. It is everywhere, this nature, - and what do I need from this nature! So everyday life here is nasty!!! So for the first time I came up with an alternative name for my native workers' settlement, or (as it was called then) the urban-type settlement of Serebryanye Prudy, and this name is included in the title of this article. It's Poganye Bolota, not Serebryanye Prudy. Only recently did I learn that the old people called this place Kholuyevka. And they are a hundred thousand times right!!!
I am not splashing negativity and I am not writing this article for you in the mood. This is my stream of thoughts, clothed in this form at this stage of my life. And what good can I say about this place? Longing, longing, continuous longing and hopelessness. I can't remember a single happy moment. Well, I can't remember anything good. As they say: I was born, baptized, and it's good that I didn't hang myself there - well, that's all, basically.
And what's most interesting is that all my life I've always wanted and want to get out of here, from these Serebryanye Prudy, to leave forever and never remember them again, but I still can't do it. As soon as I break free, I leave, it seems I've settled down somewhere, but fate, the villain, throws me back here again. And with periods of three years, that is, every three years the same thing repeats: I just got ready, left, well, work, housing and everything is fine, and then bam - and it's as if someone pushes me back to these Serebryanye Prudy.
Let's tell you about this place specifically and in fact. So, let's begin... Now it is called the urban district of Serebryanye Prudy in the Moscow region. And once it was a village, which belonged to the Tula and Ryazan provinces. Of course, this place has a long and lengthy history, but the task and meaning of the article is not in the historical perspective of this geographical place. But in analyzing my perception of this place and answering the question: "How to live in Serebryanye Prudy and still remain a normal person!?!" This is a topic for an entire doctoral dissertation, but I will try to convey to you all the delights of this settlement on the banks of the Osetr River. By the way, the name of the river is very sonorous for this nasty area. It always turns out this way: the name is beautiful, but the place is not very good, that is, the form does not match the content.
I don't know how you can live here, but I live. But it is impossible to live here normally in the generally accepted sense. There is no prospect for personal development. Everything is only by pull, by connections. Nepotism is everywhere. There is almost no work here. Only the public sector for three kopecks, that is, 15-20 thousand a month in the best case. But in order to get into these public sector positions, you need to curry favor and please for a long time, as well as bring bribes and gifts. This is in the best case scenario, but otherwise only friends and relatives can get these positions. There are no large factories, plants - just a few enterprises where all the positions have been occupied for a long time. People have nothing to do...
And when people have nothing to do, they begin to engage in moral cannibalism. The mere fact that people queue up for expired products at the garbage dumps in Serebryanye Prudy and that there are periodic fights for the best piece of moldy bread says a lot, if not the whole situation in these Prudy-Prudishchi. Maybe this situation is everywhere in Russia, I don’t know and won’t judge or argue about it. I know from the inside and with my own eyes the situation and life in this village where I was born, grew up and still, by a strange coincidence, live like a galley slave, according to the famous expression of one particularly famous long-liver of the political Olympus.
You can accuse me of exaggerating, but what is, is. And there are actually beautiful sunrises and sunsets, as well as on our entire planet. It is beautiful and comfortable in Serebryanye Prudy, but when the streets here are empty. That's why I like to walk here in complete solitude and where no one bothers me to concentrate and put my thoughts in order. Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to find such places. That's why I sometimes have to walk with my head down and my gaze fixed on the ground.
Meditative walks allow you to unravel any mysteries of existence. But there is no answer to my question: why do we so often come across characters in this area worthy of the pens of satirists like Nikolai Gogol and Yaroslav Hasek? Why are they presented here in such a concentrated and hypertrophied form? Over the years, I have visited and lived for a long time in Moscow, Khimki, Kashira, and other cities and towns in the Moscow region, but I have never encountered such grayness and a “prison” atmosphere as in my native Serebryanye Prudy. This is some kind of phenomenon, but the fact remains a fact.
I repeat that this is my personal, purely subjective opinion, which does not claim to be the ultimate truth and cannot at all be passed off as the general point of view of the local residents of this now urban settlement. I regularly meet and talk to them constantly and listen to their opinions. So, it turned out that most of the local people have exactly the same opinion about their own native Serebryanye Prudy.
Therefore, it is not at all surprising that everyone, especially young people, want to leave here forever and as far away as possible. And this is not just the usual whining and a tribute to the modern fashion for a mournful mood. They operate with facts and examples, namely: those who left here at a young age achieved a normal standard of living and achieved real results on their path, and those who stayed here achieved nothing. That's the whole conclusion. What to do?!?
Therefore, we will live on and try to escape from these Silver Ponds. As they say: there is something to strive for. And no matter how life beats us, the heart believes in miracles. Only miracles can happen anywhere, but not in this backwater, where time seems to have stopped. It's good that I understood this by the age of 46 completely and unconditionally. I should have understood this earlier, but better late than never. Still, I believe and mentally see a picture of how I am leaving these Silver Ponds forever and shouting to these Nasty Swamps: "Farewell, you will no longer deceive me with your beautiful and sonorous signboard!"
Victor Ledenev (edited and with additions by the publisher),
candidate of pedagogical sciences
08/14/2021
Rp Serebryanye Prudy, Moscow region, Russia