The August putsch - a coup in the USSR in 1991 - was remembered for me very well and, as they say, "deeply sunk into the soul." This is due primarily to the fact that this year I graduated from the secondary (still Soviet general) school and entered the Moscow State Institute of Culture. I passed examinations successfully and was notified somewhere on August 5 about enrolling in the first course of the institution. Before the beginning of the school year I stayed in my native village Silver Ponds near Moscow.

And now I sit comfortably in an armchair on August 19, I drink tea, then there were only two programs on TV and they always seemed boring (or so it seemed to me because of my young age), especially during the day, and there was no such a hobby for television, as now, but people prefered to turn on the radio and listen to quite interesting radio broadcasts, radio shows, or simply create a kind of background for doing some of their own affairs.

So, I sit in the chair, I drink tea, listen to the radio, and even read the book at the same time (as I remember right now, "The Hearts of Four"), and then suddenly the radio stops abruptly its broadcast and, creaking several times, as if someone there tried to plug in a few sockets, but he could not do it in no way, and then, after sniffing with a disgruntled squeal, it gave out with a strangled, but cheerful voice of woman-announcer, a phrase, that it was necessary to inform everyone, "dear comrades", that a state of emergency had been declared in the country and the State Emergency Committee had been created to govern the country, since Gorby (we have him then everyone called so in the Western manner) fell ill on vacation in Foros and was not able to fulfill his duties as president of the largest country in the world.

She said something else, I do not really remember now, and they immediately switched on the music from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". At my sixteen-year age, I did not attach much importance to this event, since the main show took place in the capital, and I was 150 km from Moscow at the time, and everything went quietly and imperceptibly all these days until the dissolution of the State Emergency Committee and Yeltsin's climbing to the tank in front of the House of Soviets of the RSFSR, which was later nicknamed the White House. I remember this only because my mother kept saying: "How are you going to study in this capital now, after all, there are such things going on there, you see, they are doing it", but I was even very curious, as I was very thirsty for adventures in that age period and a long-boring presence in a provincial town-type settlement. And I received them until the end of this university in 1996. But first things first.

On September 1, 1991, I arrived in the university on a solemn line and was pleasantly surprised by the joy that reigned around me, and also by such a biting cheerful mood of the majority of people that created the impression that all these August events, the putsch, the change of power and the impending dissolution of the indestructible Union. The presentation held in the club of the institute was very colorful and conceptual as I later recalled this fact repeatedly, for later all the performances literally in a few months seemed already faded and did not cause just any emotions.

I do not understand exactly until now, what it was connected with, but probably they let go of the levers of pressure, dictate, they gave freedom (or its appearance), and the people simply began indifferently and hypocritically to give out something reluctantly there in the spirit of the times. The student group, in which I was distributed, seemed to be some kind of prickly and listless, it seemed that everyone was holding together, but in fact, everyone wanted to run away faster on their business. The student`s unity did not work out right from the start, and this had a negative effect on our attitude towards learning.

Immediately everyone "scored" to study, which seemed to me to be some kind of informal thing, given my reverent attitude to the studies from the school bench. Apparently, the majority came only to enroll anywhere or did it under the pressure of parents. I, too, came under this corrupting influence, especially since the hostel had a big negative, where once somehow started to penetrate free from the whole trends, allegedly connected with the new format of our country and the desire to join the Western capitalist world. But why so it was to join: a constant abuse of alcohol, smoking, drug addiction, promiscuous intercourse, etc.

Even then I did not believe that freedom and the building of a new society of independent people should be associated with the introduction of bad habits and doing what I want, even often to the detriment of myself. But this is a fact, and it can not be escaped from. In the hostel I did not want to be because of all this hellish for me situation, and I decided to devote more time to visiting various Moscow historical places that I still love to do, for Moscow remains a mysterious city on seven hills for me, there is something in it that is attractive, but it was in the old city, which was then preserved and not built up in point-by-point by "Luzhkov" little towers and "made by Tsereteli" sculptures. In addition to walking, I attended a lot of theatres, concerts and other cultural institutions - thanks to the fact that on a student card it was possible to pass for free, having received from the administrator a check. It was then, somewhere in the middle of 1992, I first came to the play of Roman Viktyuk and fell in love with his theater.

I can not describe all of its aspects as a theatrical critic, but I can judge by the sensations that I experienced watching these productions. And these feelings cannot be imagined, and they were connected with some quivering excitement and purification of consciousness. No other performance brought me such emotions and feelings as Viktyuk's productions. I do not know what is the secret of this director from Lviv, but of the fact that later, after many decades they will write research and defend not one thesis about him, I'm 100% sure. It is a pity that now he is not so revealing himself, although he could dilute the already bored Moscow theatre life.

The study at MGIK was uninteresting and boringly-dusty-monotonous, as now, according to reviews on the Internet and personal statements of eyewitnesses of this process. I again emphasized the self-education, read, visited the speeches of scientists at the Polytechnical Museum, the Tchaikovsky Grand Concert Hall there were interesting performances by poets, whom no one really knew clearly that time, and now they are simply forgotten, but then, in the early 90s, they surfaced and not only burned people`s hearts with lyre but also conducted wonderful conversations and discussions with the audience, as Zhvanetsky now tries to repeat it sometimes. I am grateful to this university precisely for the fact that it gave me a lot of free time, and I myself at my discretion disposed of what had borne fruit in the future. A lot was learned and read, I recognized people and what they are. Even the hostel has benefited my development: it is there that all the vicious things that are in the person come to light, and there were many aspects in this regard, which I will discuss in subsequent articles.