Nikolai Galushkin, Autobiography

Nikolai talks about himself, his parents and grandparents. Nikolai was born in 1959 in Krasnodar. The family returned to Kalmykia in 1961 and settled in Elista. Nikolai’s father was a driver and his mother was a seamstress. Nikolai’s grandfather bred horses, although Nikolai never met him. He fought in the Russo-Japanese War and in the First World War. He carried with him an amulet, which is now kept at Nikolai’s house. Nikolai’s grandmother knew Kalmyk traditions and her genealogy well. Nikolai recalls that his father used to tell him to talk less and do more and to keep one’s promise. Nikolai grew up looking after his younger siblings and doing household chores. Nikolai chose his profession when he was in grade seven in secondary school. After secondary school, he entered the Abramtsevo College of Design and Applied Arts named after V. Vasnetsov in 1977 where he studied metalwork. There he saw the works of professionals. Inspired, Nikolai also worked with other materials, including bones, trees and ceramics. Nikolai reminisces about his grandmother, born in 1886, who smoked tobacco. He helped his grandmother light her tobacco pipe. After inhaling it, he gave the pipe to her. She also chewed tobacco and lived 91 years. Nikolai has a silver belt kept at his house, which was ordered by his grandmother. Nikolai’s grandmother had skillful hands and sewed. During the Russian Civil War, she along with her husband and children were among the refugees who were fleeing in the direction of Novorossiysk. Both Red and White soldiers attacked the refugees, pillaging and killing them. Wounded during one such raid, Nikolai’s grandmother stopped in an Adyge settlement where she worked as a midwife. From there the family later moved to Krasnodar where she gave birth to Nikolai’s father. She also had a bag with a rosary, a small altar and ornaments made from golden threads, which Nikolai keeps today at home. When Nikolai was small, his grandmother taught him how to pray. Nikolai’s parents also had a difficult life. Both parents went through the Siberian exile and a prison.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi