He used his hands to "walk" down the escalator, then slide the improvised skateboard from under his arms and glided onto the platform to board the next train. He waited until the last moment to board a Metro wagon. I understood why because he'd have been trampled under afoot by the rush and mix of passengers debarking and boarding the Metro and so his timing was crucial.
What astounded me however was what transpired after the train began moving.
But first a little explanation is in order. When the train is ready to depart an announcers voice comes on from overhead ceiling speakers. There is a rhyme and reason to those announcements as you can determine the direction of the train by the gender of the announcer: on the ring line, a male voice indicates clockwise travel, and a female voice counter-clockwise. On the radial lines, travellers heading toward the centre of Moscow will hear male-voiced announcements, and travellers heading away from the centre of the city hear female-voiced announcements. Here is a trick to remember the pattern: the male voice is sort of like the boss saying hurry to work, and the female voice is like the wife saying hurry home. Hope that works for you.
The announcements just prior to arriving at a station have patterns, too. At multilevel stations where you can change to another line, the announcement informs riders that it's an interchange station with a reminder not to forget belongings when departing. At single stations it lists the station name and cautions passengers to be careful when stepping off.
Have you every heard one of those announcements? Here is a
recorded sample.Each announcment is tailored to the particular stop and near our home I might hear something like this: "Осторожно, двери закрываются. Следующая станция "Петровско-Разумовская". Уважаемые пассажиры, просьба заранее приготовиться к выходу из поезда." Basically, "Caution, the doors are closing. The next station is Petrovsko-Razumovskaya. "Passengers prepare to exit the train." Listen to the female voice on
this announcement.What happened next on that Metro car was totally unexpected. The little man used his hands for feet and rolled his skateboard to the centre of the wagon. Believe me, although no one said anything, he had everyone's attention.
When he spoke you could have heard a pin drop. The silence literally drowned out the normal thumping of the train wheels moving along the track. He calmly explained that he was a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the national nightmare that lasted 11 years from 27 December 1979 – 15 February 1989. Russians sometimes call it "Russia's Viet Nam."
On average you get about 90 seconds between train stations more or less. He had to perform his version of an "elevator speech" in the few seconds remaining. And he delivered! Displaying his body that had been severed in half at the waist, he pointed to what was left of himself and declared "
I am a son of Russia and have served her faithfully as you can see. Now our government has no use for me and I need your help to survive."
More silence.
A usual short metro ride from one stop to another is typically accompanied by the sway and rocking of the wagon. Everything felt feather lite on this segment. No sound, no movement at all, other than knowledge that the train was racing forward.
Then the arrival announcement came over the speakers. The stillness had been broken. It was my stop but I waited until the last possible second to see what would happen.
In case you hadn't noticed, Russians pass money around very freely, in a trusting sort of way. Next time you ride a Маршрутка (Marshrutka) van just watch how the fare is passed from row by row to the driver in the front, sometimes change being made as the money makes it's way back and forth. Pretty amazing. Just call out the number of passengers you're paying for (четыре, пожалуйста/"four, please") and send the rubles to the front.
Several passengers passed coins in his direction, and it seemed that most of the donors were female, but many passengers seemed uncomfortable and hurried out of the wagon. Perhaps in order to avoid a potential run-in with the милиция (police) he exited also.
I saw him several days later, skateboard tucked to his side, as he laboured on his hands to scale the tall steps to one of Moscow's city administrative buildings. They say that "
Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears" but I sincerely sent good wishes his direction to find a source of support. However in those days of the new "wild west" rough ride transition to capitalism, and with active military troops months behind in pay, it would be a miracle had his quest been met with success.
Which is what made President Medvedev's visit to Moscow's дождь ("Rain") TV studios earlier this week so interesting. (Watch news on the channel here:
http://tvrain.ru) It was the station's one year anniversary and in particular a special day for Yevgenia Voskoboynikova of the Rain staff. Yevgenia was one of Rain's very first employees and she is a disabled person, in a wheelchair, but working for one of the finest TV stations in Russia.
Let's join the on-air conversation:
Yevgenia Voskoboynikova:
We will soon be celebrating our one-year anniversary, and as it happens, I was one of Dozhd’s first employees. But you could say I was lucky, because I think here in Russia, it is very difficult for people with disabilities to get a good job.President Medvedev:
You have raised a complicated topic. I will tell you directly and honestly, especially since you know this very well for yourself, that unfortunately, we have never had a culture of integrating disabled people into regular life. We didn’t notice these people, and in the USSR even respective statistics were concealed. The concept was, everyone was able-bodied, and if somebody was not, that person was seen as non-existent. I have to say frankly that this attitude has remained within the mentality of many people. It is a kind of stereotype, but one that is now gradually being overcome. As you know for yourself, new building standards are being used in large cities – and even smaller ones, as well – so that disabled individuals can enter and exit normally in their wheelchairs.Yevgenia Voskoboynikova:
I can confirm that this is true in Moscow.President Medvedev:
Moscow is the leader in this sense. But other places are advancing as well.
As for finding jobs, this is an area where we need to proceed in the same way people are proceeding throughout the world, and not shy away from giving certain incentives and preferences to employers who hire people with disabilities. But naturally, this must be done sensibly. Because as you yourselves understand, there are many individuals who are witty, clever, and smart. And if, for example, we widely open that door, then no doubt a murky flow of tricksters will rush there bringing absolute opposite results to what was intended. Still, overall, there is to be a system of incentives for employers, so that this would not be a good luck, as you describe your case, but rather, a standard, typical situation, the same way it works throughout the world.Another important aspect here is education. We have almost no inclusive schools where disabled children study together with children without disabilities. As a result, they are divided, and children with disabilities have a kind of fear; they are afraid to socialise with non-disabled children. At the same time, able-bodied children have a difficult time socialising with disabled children, because they do not know how to behave, etc. This is just not right; they should be together. Incidentally, there is some good experience with that in Moscow, but this should happen throughout the entire country. In general, we have many various social programmes, and I imagine that you probably know some of them. The programmes are good, but if we’re being honest, this is partially am attitude issue. I do not see anything exceedingly complicated here, but it will take some time.Yevgenia Voskoboynikova:
In other words, we are to raise a new generation.President Medvedev:
We must raise a new generation of disabled individuals to make them able-bodied members of our society.
Nataliya Sindeyeva (Station Manager):
Mr President, I want to add something. As an employer, I had simply never encountered disabled people before; it’s true that we do not often see disabled people, they are not out on the streets, and we do not meet them.President Medvedev:
Because that’s the way everything works here, we make it difficult for them to even enter a restaurant.Nataliya Sindeyeva:
Disabled people in Russia are just not adapted socially. Besides, there is a negligence in our society.
We are now planning a series of videos where we want to talk about integrating disabled individuals into society and show people like Yevgenia Voskoboynikova who work, who are integrated into normal working life and conditions.Such programmes should be supported on a government level. In Europe and America in the 1960s and 1970s, as we learned when making our videos, there were numerous TV advertisements, billboards, publications in the press, etc., that simply showed and emphasised that there are disabled people among us. And this gave an unbelievable push toward helping these individuals.President Medvedev:
I agree. By the way, there was no Internet in the 1960s in America or elsewhere, and now, this should also be done via the web, because opportunities to reach people are much higher. Videos are important. But overall, this simply must be one of the serious topics up on the web, including via online television.Nataliya Sindeyeva:
We are working on it.Photos:1- Metro recording sound booth, Moscow Metro PR dept,
http://engl.mosmetro.ru/ 2- Маршрутка by Sasha Grouss/LiveJournal
3- Yevgenia Voskoboynikova (L), President Medvedev (C), Nataliya Sindeyeva (far R), Presidential Press Service/Mendeleyev Journal
4- дождь ("Rain") TV studios, Presidential Press Service/Mendeleyev Journal
5- Weather Map, дождь ("Rain") TV studios, Presidential Press Service/Mendeleyev Journal
