Valenki are a very rare sight here in Dushanbe (and, to be fair, winter here typically is not quite harsh enough to warrant wearing them). When Anya showed up to sadik on the first snowy winter morning we've had in the flowery boots we bought last winter in Vlad, Anya's sadik teachers oohed and aahed very admiringly.
As I remember that purchase, I can't help but think how well that cute little pair of baby valenki illustrates the remarkable distance between Vlad and Dushanbe in economic terms. Those shoes are a good-looking, rather stylish, well-made pair of Russian-made boots bought for a reasonable price in this curiously Russian kids' "super-store" called "Bubl'-Gum" (a funny play on the words "bubble gum" and "GUM," the classic Soviet state department store). I remember having been told when we arrived in Vlad in October 2006 how the first outlets of that chain in town had radically improved local shopping options for toys, kids' clothing, and diapers.
But there is absolutely no store like that here in Dushanbe -- nothing even close. And there are really no comparable goods like that here, either (I know, I made that clear in my musing after a downer of a visit to Sadbarg). Most manufactured goods you find here are depressingly ugly, poorly-made, and overpriced, and virtually nothing is mass manufactured or distributed from within Tajikistan. I remember many times thinking that it seemed like "everything" for sale in Vlad was from China, but here in Dushanbe that seems much more literally to be the case. Anyway, I guess it's kind of interesting that a little perspective can give me a new appreciation of one aspect of Vlad!
2 comments:
Interesting--and (to me, at least) a little surprising. What do the locals (rich and poor) do for, like, kiddies' show shoes ? Do they have stuff made ? OR do they travel ? Or is there some big weekly market ?
Keep the info coming; it is really interesting.
Well, I guess they do a variety of things. There are winter boots for sale here, but what I'm trying to say is that (1) virtually no manufactured goods sold here are made in Tajikistan (while those valenki I bought were made in Russia -- I guess I'm just saying that when your country's economy can produce these goods and not 100% of such things are imported, I see that as a positive thing). And (2) everything you do see for sale that is analogous (if not actually similar, i.e., of similar quality) to Anya's valenki is almost always of poor quality and overpriced for what it is. But surely some, perhaps many people do buy these items -- and they either fall apart quickly or whatever.
Also, Tajik kids are not all that well dressed for cold or snow. I'm not really sure what's up with that. Very typical footwear one sees in our neighborhood is thick wool socks with ankle-high black rubber galosh-type things, or (inspiring Anya in her oft-repeated phrase) "shower shoes" (with socks).
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