Title: “B” !
How to cite this article: Martor 2002, 7.
Published by: Editura MARTOR (MARTOR Publishing House), Muzeul Ţăranului Român (The Museum of the Romanian Peasant)
URL: http://martor.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/archive/martor-7-2002/
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BALCONY
In ll1 e '80s I was about te n years old and co uld 11 0\ reall y fi gure out what it was that was hci11 !.! aro u11 d me. A111 on!.! other thin gs . I
' ' '-'
011ce hea rd about a law th at was passed and th at l'o rbiJ peo pl e fro m clos in g th eir balco ni es and ob ligt>d thotie wh o had closed up their balco nies to und o th e wh ole work - on th eir own ex pens- es . of co urse . At th at age .. l was not reall y inter- e;.; ted in th e 11umber or vea r of th e lmv. No r wa s I dircctlv i11\C' res teJ in tb c pro bl c111 itse lf, since l Iii <'d with my parents in a house, and in stead of a ha lco ny. we had. lu cky us, a co urtyard and a shed in th e ba ck of it. And thi will tell you about th e role of th e closed balcony. Beca use th e of co mmuni st bl oc! s had bee n co n- cc iv<'d in with th at interrwti onali st style 11" hi ch did not ta ke in to acco u11 t th e specifi city of till' ;m·<l. 11 or so 111 c 1ni11i1rnil gcog rapl1i ca l co ndi-
such. th e initi al role of the bal co ny/log- gia as a recreation place with.in the rationaJisl npar/111.ent was altogether Jost. Instead , it became altcrn atclv a store house, a gree nh ouse, or a ll'Ork sl1 op (for thin gs lo in th e house and ot her). S1n all <1pa rL111 e11 l, sca rcity of space - a
\\11 at co uld one do'! th an that.. climate co ndi tions vary a lot around here.
l'ro111 to seaso n. th erefo re yo u had to 1nal c th at space inhabitable for th e whole year.
Ce rlai11J y., th e quality of the closing solutions were and have remained debatable, but from the point of vi ew of the own ers of apartm ents with d osed balco 11i es, th e news about th e obliga ti on to des tr oy th e m was co mpl etely sho ckin g.
" How's th at. openin g up my balco ny again? Will
th ey give me back th e money l gave such an d such wh en he built it up fo r me( ' It IV <l :< all about los i11 g a se ries of absolutely
l'u 11 cti ons that were mi ss ing: l'rom the ap art1n e11 t as such (es pec ially tl1 e storin g fun cti on) and about tli e imposs ibility of ever rec up crati 11g the money th e family bad spent from th eir ow11 sav- ings. Wh en yo u feel yo ur property is threa tened, yo u co uldn 't ca re less about th e style of th e fa cad es - tlti s was the major argum ent
or
th elaw. whi ch ac tu all y mai11ly referred, ii' I re111 em- ber co rrec tly. to th e balco ni es loo l ing out to th e main streets.
It was crazy. Mu ch talking and debating: at hom e, while standing in lin es, at work. Wh al co uld yo u do, a law is a law! ome lost th eir pre- cious close-up s, but redid th e111 alright aft er 1989. Aunt Sica had th e sa me man redo li cr bal- co ny wh o· d done it. fo r her bcf'o rc. and tl l(' 111 an ca me with th e sam e material s and rai sed th e work in two days and a haU. More rece ntly. tli e th ermopan es have replaced the lovely bus win- dows - the apartm ents, though, have remain ed as small and cold. (J4.9)
Beca use of th e co ld a nd lac k of foo d. we
closed up th e balconv. Th at' $ wl1 erc Wl' kt>p l the food suppli es. ll'heneve r 1 got to ge t
after stand ing in lin es. But so llleli111 c i11 ·32 or '83 , an ord er cam e th at as ked me lo undo the balcony. I had to bring the close-up cl own , oth er- wise the fin e was 3000 lei. A town-hall represen- tative came together with the block adrnin istra- tor and went fr om flat to flat lo see wli o had ;rnd wb o hadn 't opened up their balco ni es. AJter l rt' -
moved it, I put it back and ca mouflage d it with a curtain , so th at it couldn ' t be see n (ro111 t!t e Marlor, VT! - 2002, The eighties in Bucharest
:28
Rtrcct. a11d [tri ed to evad e contro ls. (98) It wa s fo rbidd en to have your balcon y closed 11p beca use thi s ruin ed th e aes thetics of th e hlo ck. But th e interdi ctio n onl y appli ed to build- inl!s on th e main stree ts., on th e boul eva rd s. The argument was that th e closed balco ni es weak- l' ncd th e stru ctu re of the block. made it hard er to refrr to and spoi led looks. ft is one thing to h<l\ l' tlw111 ;1IJ ali ke., and a11 oth er Lo end up with
(' \ ' ('l"V 01H' different from tli e oth er. Also, it was
l'o rl.iidd en to hang yo ur laun dry on th e bal cony.
Tlw balco ny was oul y fo r Jl owc rs and refreshing
<t ir. (M . A., J 13)
BARTER
II' vo u ju st happ e ned Lo wor k so mewhere wh ere th ey made goo ds th at were in deman d., you ca ll ed th at lu ck. Let's say yo u were a coo k. T£ you were a cook, everyon e waJJted to know you. You had unrestri cted access to goods tliat you could trad C' in exc hange fo r oth e r goo ds. I for one wo rk ed in a cloth es l'<icto ry anrl ran at th e sa me Ii 111 c 111y ow 11 sportswear bu si 11 ess. Th ey werc11 "t tlw r('g ul ar typ e that yo u co uld fl11d in a11 y shop , hut tllf' posh ones witl1 rub ber im prints. l went to th r butcher· s, gave the fe lJ ow sportswear to go
;1round for th e wh ole fami ly, and left home with a kil o of mea t in 111y bag. (l. H .. 48)
For 111 e the ba rter was the i11 tri catP web of
<·01 111 cction s. Bookshop ass istants., chi efl y these- ni ors. heads of departm ents, head gro ce rs, etc. 1 too k a boo k from th e boo kshop and trad ed it fo r 111eat from somewh ere else. Peo ple were killin g to lay grab o n good boo ks such as Clavell's '·S hogun '°' or Fowles' "Th e Magus". (L H. , 54)
BASIN
Sc 111i -s ph c ri ca l rcc 1p1 e nt usuall y use d fo r was hi11 g. Wh en th e mag 11ifice nt co nstruction were opened (the Danube-Black Sea ca nal, th e hvJro electri c station in Bi caz, etc.) the work- 111 c11 we re nominall y suppli ed with (d efo rm ed, vc l usa ble) aluminum basins.
13
Mu ch later, when we fin ally got our television (o ue national channel with a two- hour broad- castin g program per da y, dcdi catc·d to the Cea usescus), th ese ba sin s becam ' noto ri ou,.
Since cabl e TV did not exist and p11raboli c ar. ri 11 I;, were fo rbid den, aga in st rece ption of l'orr ig11 T\<
chann els. so me crafty people, parti cul arl v in th e nortl1 of tl1 e co u11 try. use d th C'se alu111 i11 u111 bas in s to mak e cland es tin e parnh oli c <ll' rials.
Thi s was the occas ion of au an 11 oun cc 111 c11 t ed in tl1 wiJld ow of a '· f c romcta l .. shop in Suceava: "We have basin s fo r cab liug in th c Hu,-
. " l ) s1a11s. ::>
BED BUGS
I wiU neve r forget th e story ol. the bed I bad read abo ut tl1em and [ co11sidercd the111 . as l still co nsider th em toda y, an ex press ion of filtl1 and backwardness. I had never see n a bed bug be- fo re until , in ·31 , a ueighbor stopp ed 111 e to let 1ne know that th ere were bed bugs i11 tl1 c block. I an- swered embarrassed tl1at I had never sre n ;111 v .. so he was ki11d enough to bring <I dc;1d 01H· 011 a pi<'C'(' of paper, lei.ling rn e about the SlllCll of
that's not what l think. bed bugs 111ake 111e thi11 k of tota lJ y different things! ] thanked hi111 . wr· both got incligrn111t and after a meeting with tl1 c adJ11 inis- trator and oth er ncighbo1·s, we ca lled tli r di si11l"rs- tati o11 services. A new probl em appea red, so111c did not want to let th e di sinfcstation peo ple c· 11Ler the apartments., it costs and wh<it happens iJ tl w get stain ed? Bed bugs are not sucli a big di saster.
after 11 LL It was only then the real battle bega n and we hardly got rid of the bed bugs. We used to with th e lights on. Th ey would crawl on walls in th e darl and from the ceilinf!, thev fell ri!!ht 011 ... . ' yo u. Yo u had the se nsation th at 11 othi11 g co uld clean you after th at and that yo u were dd i11itrlv humiliated. I think l reached the abys,; of lrn111 a11 mi se ry then!
CV.
M. , 127)Joke. Th e Erev<rn radio stati on . .A
asks us: what would happ eu if bed bu f1:s co uld glow in th e ni ght? We a11 swe r: th e n
wou ld loo k like Las Vegas . (C. \!., 7)
BICYCLE
11 lwfo rc 1980 it used lo be il mostl y rural ve- hi cle, i11 th e
·sos
tlw bi cycle became a JamiJiar pn·sc 11ct' 011 Bucharest strel'ls. whi ch ll1 e adu lts to prefe r eve n bette r tha n th e children.lt IVil>' gils that provo ked thl' Lii cycle fas h- ion. rather th an th e lfo manian s· preference for a
'po rtive li fe .
Tlw 111 m;t access ibl e bicycles we re the "Pegas'·
"o rL made <lt the Toha11 Arm ory, and the " mini "
l)'pe '"a' the most pop ular one. The design was ac- ceptable, but th e price (ilpproximately 1800 lei) was 11ot. considering its quality. lt was extremely heavy. very li ttle resistant, but ill least it wils not too large and co uld be folded in two, wliich rn ild e tra nspor tati on hy elevator T lte silddle rnu lcl lw drciw11 up to tlte level ol' an ad ult. hut afte r dri l'i1tg, th e bar that held it WC' llt dow 11. it was fi xed badly. a11cl yo u lwcl to co 11ti11u e vo ur rid e kn ees d ose lo mouth. 1 lwd to 1'C movc the ba r a11cl in troduce a sweep rod i11 "tcad into the pipe. whi ch 1mde it possible to keep the sadd le at th · cb ircd height.
Tll(' Soviet bi cvcles, " Ukraina" , had th e sa me price but were more r<i rcly put on sa le: and wh e11 they were. bi g queues were form ed in front of the sports shop s. lt was equ ally heavy, but of reg- ular size, and remark able resistan ce.
T he )'Oun g pr efe rr ed th e racing bi cycle
"Sp utnik" . wl1i ch was of Soviet origin too. lt had fo ur gc<1rs. cos t l950 le i and wa s th e favo rite 111 odel ol th e bi cycle thi eves. ( 129)
BIRTH
I rc1rn' 111ber tlw l1 os pital [ Wil S in when mv tw o bab v bovs were bo rn. !\ t th e tim e l thought tlw l1 osp ital' loo ked pc rlectl v norm al. 0 11 loo k- ing ha ck now, l reil lize thev were squalid. J did- n\ see m to mind back then. l even worked in tlw of the Jil ava Priso n, sin ce l hadn 't got Buchares t res idence. Bu chares t was a closed city. Hard to enter. l' ve seen a lot in Jila vil . I don't like to rememb er about those things. But
th ere was good wiU, too. The medical perso nn el were quite united. We had to hold toge th er if we wa nted to cope. A lot of people there were co n- fin ed unju stl y. Oth ers were real criminals, though. Th ey often pretend ed to be iU, and the pretense WilS perfect, in order to exchange th e priso n cells fo r the hos pital wa rds. Th e/cl do anythin g to get away from the priso n life. Th(·:
were very difficult men, but if yo u kn ew li oll' to handle them. yo u co uld manage.
J had my first baby while I was still working in Jilavil. Some law had been passed whi ch sa id that women hild to have their babies in the hos- pitals specificaUy appointed to th eir work places.
lt wils absurd: you deliver wh ere and whe n the ti me co mes. I for one had to go to th e "'August 2Jrd '· I-l os pital, and l lived at th e oth er e11d of Bucharest.. in the "'M ili t<iri '' area . ll'hi ch was 011l v being buil t at th e tim e. l took a taxi that jolted me throu gh the wh ole city until we reached th e hosp ital (we did uot ow n a ca r th en). It took us a lot of tim e to ge t there, l wouldn 't kn ow how 111u ch. l :irrived, r told th e doctors I wa' going to dC' li vc r that ve 1·v in6tant. Nobodv bt'- li evecl me, as l gad just go t to the hos pital. But it wa s just as J'd said. Next to me th ere was a lad) who had alread y bee n thr ough a lot of paiu.
AJtcr her baby was born , she told me she had hated me for deli vering so eas ily, while she had to endure so much. She didn 't know that Th ad bee n throu gh my labors while in th e tax i.
It wa s customary l'or tl1 e woman to witli a ce rtain doctor in ;id vance and give hi111
"hi s due" to take better ca re of her. Ju st that th ere was 110 guarantee that he would be in pital at th e exact tim e of yo ur labo rs, it was stiU th e doctor on duty wh o ass isted th f' birth.
What wa s tb c use. th en? Birth i" so mething ph vs- iological. So methin g normal. And aft erwa1·d,; vo u . co uJd pay the clue, naturally.
It was a midwife , not a doctor, who assisted mv seco nd birth. l went to th e hosp ita l and tbat woman gave me so much confid ence that J told her I wanted to ha ve th e baby with her by my side.
She was a bit elderly, you could see she bad expe-
30
ri ence . Wlten J told her thnt, she stnrcd nt 111 e n11d said OK. She only to ld me we had to work togeth- er ri nd that I would have to obey her co mpletely, and would be nil right. It was hot, and ,dw wa s a bit chubby. She closed th e door, and too k off all her clothes except the panties and the brn. and help ed me deliver. I don't remember what I gave her afterwards. (E. I. A., 16)
BLACK MARKET
I wn s n stud ent, I made 111 y pock et 111 onl')' by se lling blu e jenns on th e black market.
l bo ught tli eJll in th e hostel from for eign stu - dents and sold them in my tow n at double price.
The money would never stay in my pocket fo r more than three da ys : J went with my fri ends to th e Budap es ta Res taurant and stood trea ts for ('Vc rvo ne. (C. S ... 86)
BLOCK ADMINISTRATOR
I rememb er tha t once, while coming from work , old man Pr es ur , th e admin istrator , stopp ed me at th e entrnn ce to th e block: "one moment, lady, I hnve to talk to yo u about some- thing. '' I-l e took me as id e, lowe red hi s vo ice, held 1ny elbow intimately and told me that two rn 1mades Imel co me from my office to inquire about me and my li fe . Poor old Presur, he wa s a goo d man, but limited and full of self-imp or- ta11!'e. He told me how he had pra ised me to- µ: cth er wit h tw o oth e r 11 eighbo rs, and as ked tl1 ose 111 en how came th at J co uldn't find a goo d hu sband at work. By th e tim e J reacted, whil e I was wntchin g him unm oving and with mouth wid e open, old Pres ur hurri ed to suggest a good match: th e neighbor from the 7th flo or, a retired sec ret servi ce agent who had access to the store of th e Interior Ministry and a domestic man. I remember that the most difficult part was to rid myseU' of th e familia r attitud e of the fri endly ad- mini strator in a polite way. I felt rotten from hea d to toe. My hand hurt from the heavy bag I was holdin g, and at home it wasn't eve n possible
l3
to take a shower, as th e bathtub was f uU oJ 1·r·- se rves of water. 1 climbed to th e tenth l'l oo r a11 d
I put on a big s111ile for my dau ghte r wa iti ng fo r me at home. (V. M., 89)
BLOCK OF FLATS
The communist block of flats is very much similar to a mixer, if you think of th e way it wa ' used by the party and state leaders. After alm ost thirty yea rs of professed co unter-eli tist every block is a stran ge mi xture of population of th e 111 ost va ri ed social ex tra ction. (\I. M .. 123)
BLUEJEANS
Those wbo managed to travel abroad or tl1 ose who became fri end s with th ose wh o travcled ab road go t lo wea r real blu e lo r th e rest., we were only interes ted to kn ow where th e blue jea ns were mad e in Romania. For expo rt trad e, that is. Romanian textile plants used to make very good quality jeans for exportation. An example is th e Botosani plant, whi ch produced at a profit fo r three yea rs: it became the fo rr,rn ost facto ry in th e whole county, thank s to th e blu e jean s it Hrnnufactu red in loa n system.
Th ere was also th e more regular lin en and hemp en fabri c, whic h they ca lled "'blu e jeans fabric", but was not eve n remotely that. lt was more like n tarpaulin or rug. (l. H., 511.)
BONES
One of my colleagues was sa ving for <l 1ww house. The finan cial effo rt wa s huge, as her fam- ily includ ed a husband, two children of stud ent age, her old and sick mother. A perfect cook. she mana ged to put tog eth e r meals out of mere sc rap. The basic ingredients we re usually bones . She was on th e lookout for them in eve ry mark et and would bu y hu ge quantiti es of them. She boiled them, and used th e gravy and whatever scraps of meat she co uld ca rve out of th e bones to cook so up and pilaf
One da y. in a beauti fu l fur coal (dow ry from her grandm a). she happ ened to be in th e Amzei Plaza wh en the wo rd was spread llrn t th erl' were bones on sale. She stood in the lin e and boug ht 12 kilo s. Triurnph antiy she 111arcl1 f'd out ol' th e ,; hop. when a lad y fri end of' hc· r· <1:-k cd her. arn azed: '"Mv dear. how rn any
do :<H I kPC' p at liornc'I"" (75 )
BOOKS
I rr mernh er that af'ter a bri ef' ex hibiti on, in 8 1-82. ilrni Stan esc n. had a book publi shed, 11hi cli cornp letcl:' fro111 th e 111arkct.
I do nnt 1T11ir111ber tlw nam e of th e book but l 1-c111c111 br r some of th e cari catu res. One wa s with Sophi a Loren, who wa s giving an interview. She was Cl sked whilt projects she Imel for the future, and she said "I fini shed th e first weed ing and I prepare u1 yself fo r th e second ." The caricature with th P poli ce man telling to th e trn m driver that he ,d1ould pull over was f'antasti c. it wa s tl1 c· pres id ential lin r coming that wa y. An- other 011 e with an arnbul ancc. whi ch wa 8 eom- pletelv destroyed. Th ere were many cari catures.
bu t I f' ould 011ly remember th ese (A . \1., 7)
\\ c it lo th e notary; it wa s th e onl y thing that li e (A.V .. 52)
I rrnwmb er ""Th e Textbook of tli r Happen- ings .. bv Stdan Agop ian, publi shed in that peri- od. There was a " Li st o!' tbos e who sa id that...'' One wa s won dering how it was published with or with out tl1 r police app rova l beca use th e political allu sions were crystal clear.
..-\ novel wa s Sil vi u Angelesc u's, '•"Ca lpu zan s" whi ch wa s well received. Sil viu was
··covc rrd u p" by Mavrogh e ni 's hi story. Th e (' pocli happ enings wcr then clrn nged and lrans- i'r rwd onto Ceausesc u as th e rnain hero. (A. V., 7)
\\'l w11 "'Tl1 r Mos t Beloved of All J-[urnan s'' app eared. <l :'Cancfa l brok e loose. lt wa s said th at 1\l ari n Preda r·rce ivcd I 1Uillion dollars. On e rnil- li ou doll ars ,,·as enough to renovate th e Cozia
(A. V .. 52 )
were made - Xerox cop ies or wh ole
prin ted book s - fo r in ta nee: "Th e Paltini s Diary", Steinh ard t. WJ1 e n my fath e r. Rndu Petreseu went to France, be mad e only one trip.
but he shortened hi s stay just to buy books. llc cam e with hu ge suitcas es with books, 011t of whi ch th ey co nfi sc at ed Cliad e and Cug c n Ion esc u at th e customs. Hr horwstlv hoped lo hid e th e m a mo ng th e Sh erl oc k Hol mes or Aga tha Cli1i tie books. (A.\! ... )2)
[n "88. I stayed in th e rain fi ve hours qu euing in front of a bookstore. l kn ew that they had a book by Lii cean u.
J
took 7 co pi es of the tolary" and I gave th crn to Al'tn I read th e boo k I wrote a lettr r to tl1 c autho r. I wa s excited bcvond cont rol. FortunaLelv. I did . . not se nd it. ( 111)As soo n as yo u saw that in a shop .. iu a book- store, they "had " boo ks ... Thi s was anoth er cap- tion at the tim e, th ey " had ", th ey " brought" ... a lot of people qu eued. For anything. Ever:1thin g they had at the book stor c. wa s bought. bo ok,;
wne very cheap. alll ong th crn. yo u could find Bul!!akov or tlta t 011c. what her nam e. Rodi ca Ojog-Bra sovcanu with the poli ce capta in who would com e victorious out of' every situ ation. thi s was different. But you had to qu eue f'o r books. (S. H.-13. , D. R.-13 ., J 38)
There were no qu eues in l'ront ol' th e boo k- slores. Th e books were sold in th e ba ck. ··Th e Most Beloved Of All Hum an s'', created a11 rx- traordinary co nl'u sion, everybody thou ght that it was abo ut Comrade Ceausesc u, ... we made a de- tour wh e11 we saw it on th e tabl e, until th e first people had the chance to reild it, and at that mo- ment, it di sappeared complet ly, and it becarn e a thi11g of Jantil sli c exchange va lu e.
The books were not exp ensive. The shop a"- sistants from th e bookstore did not se ll th em with more money, although they could have. But 111 oney wa s not imporla11l. 011c could ha ve big amount of' money, but when on e had th e chance lo buy a good book, on e see med to have bee n blessed by Cod . The shop ass istants sold boob in exchange fo r other favor s. r avors in return for Favors. (LH. , 54)
32
Th crc were go od hoo ks, very good boo ks. I 111 ca 11l tllf' publi shing houses had diffe rent col- l('C' t.i o11 s. Th e re wa s: '·Adventure'·, where one ('Ould read adventure boo ks. l remember th ere wa s an .. /\ .. on th e cover. Later on, th ere was tb e collection '' Cn igma ", a co ll ecti on of ad venture books. too. Th e '·Dauphin " collecti on was pretty 111u ch th e sa me., as a genre. Th e coll ecti on for (' hildre11 wa s '·The Library fo r Eve ryone'-_ A lwo k was 2 lei. 2 lei! So I bought all kinds of th em for me. One could have found eve rything.
You could buy from Creanga - " th e Goat with Three Kid s"- to Kafka. All the possibly imagin- abl e range. Th e boobtores were loa ded. This
up until l985 or1 986. (1. H. , 29)
Towards th e end of th e eighth decad e, all th e hooks that were publi shed started lo look worse and wo rse. The paper loo ked 111ore aud more as toil et pap er, very ofte n ha ving different hu es J'r o 111 pi11k to g ree 11 , so metim e· eve n thr ee
in th e same volum e. ( 160)
BORD EH.
On Saturda ys and Sund ays, fr ee access out was all owed at th e country border. All you had to do was prese nt yo ur ID and yo u could cross the bord er to Bulga ria and bu y alim ents and even ce rtain electric apparatuses th at were not avail- abl r· i11 tl1 c country. You could bu y th cn1 cheap aud did 11 ot have to pay fo r custo.m taxes. Ru se and Negru-Voda are two oJ th e fronti er localiti es whNe you could cro ss th e bord er. Bulgari a was also th e place wh ere Romani ans co uld find ba-
a11d oranges . In Romani a were only avail ab le on holid ays. (M. V., ] 57)
BOULEVARD OF THE TOILETS
Th e word spread th at th e prese nt extension of th e Dacia Boul evard was built at Ceau sescu's re- qu est.. so that he could reach the Cotroceni area more easily. The extension was called eith er "Th e Way of Shit" or, more dece nLl y, "The Boulevard of the Two Toilets", since it co nn ected two very
B
Frequented public toilets, one in th e Homana Plaz- za and the oth er in th e Gri vita area, nea r tlte gas station. ln between the U11i o11 e1 11d th e Academy, th ere was a small park, wh l' rc propl e used to play foo tball or th e writers used to take a 1ia p after a tiring restaurant ·'session .. . Th cv cut th e road right through that park. (7)
BOWS (AND RIBBONS)
lt was a ribbon with tw o big bows, rese m- bling roses. They had to be reall y big. I re111 em- ber that in the beginning my mother had 111 ade me one with fe wer petals and seei11g th e oth er cotl eagues w 'a ri 11g fuller bows wa s a tragedy fo r me. lt wa s a fas hi on imposed by Ccausc,cu in schools., after coming back fro111 Chi11 a. I c:a11 still remember th at I used to take th e bows in a bag to school, so th at th ey wouldn't crease. Th e hows were attached to th e ribb on; it was all pe1rt or th e u11 ifo rm. You weren' t alJ owed to leave vo 11r rib- bon at home. We e1ll wore th e sa n1 r unirorn1 . "·"
if enro lled i11 th e arrn v. There WC' re su11 w 1·r·- stri cti o11s, too , 111eanin g th at yo u were11 't all owed to wear your hair long, u1d ess i11 a ponyta il. Th ey used to control everything. (0. S., 120)
Yet, unlike the ribbon, the bows were never compulsory. I' ve never worn those. eith er have oth er class mates. But as far as th e ribbon was conce rned, it was a real comp clil io 11 a111 011g whi ch had th e most beautiful and u11u s11 ;il rib- bon. [ couldn 't stand the broad ribb on. 111 ;Hl c ol elasti c, which used to squeeze my ea rs e1 11d head. My moth er crocheted one fo r me. whi ch was never broa der th an 2 crn . Th en lh r fa shi on of pl asti c ri bbo ns ca me., more ri gid. 1n ore rk li- cate and almost invisibl e. Tl1 eir onl v di sadva 11- ta ge was th ey would break very Th e rilJ- bon, however obliga tory. was worn rvc rv 01H-c i11 a while. Everything depend ed on th e teacher.
We always had tl1 em wh en we had liomani an, and wh en we had E11gli sb with our class master.
we used to take them off with reli ef ( 160)
BREAD
I 11 thC'
·sos
n Iler grnd uati ng fr om the un iver- I wo 11 dered if l should go to Tra nsylva uia., because l had to choose betwee n Transylva ni a and Bu charest. Bu charest gave yo u a kind a se- curity, foo d was more accessible. In the country Ii fe was getting li arder, it was an extremely diffi- cu ll peri od . Ce rtain areas were privileged some- how. ill alli e r areas th e system o[ ration cards wa,; hac k. I 111u ot tell th at Bucharest was affected b,· th e !act that the peaoants wanted to buy bread to fe ed the pigs. There was no wh ea t, no maize (one was fo rced to give awa y almost everything oll e culti va ted in fr ont of one's house, on a small land plot) Peo ple had houses 11 ea r Buchares t or even ill tllE' cit)', raising cattl e, a11imals th at th ey k d with hrca cl. What ge nerated thi s'? A lot of problelll s. because of th e bad bread. One kn ew the bread went to animals. So everybody ate bad bread , incredibly bad bread. The ph e- nomenon persisted until "93-'94. (11 4)BRIBERY
There arr man y sy nonyms fo r bribery in Ho- m:1J1i a11 . though therC' are sli gli t differences be- t\\ f'f' ll them. The most frequent word s ill every- dav language are backhand er or kickba ck. Th e prese nt a nd gift, words with different ba sic 111 ealli1i gs in the rural wo rld ., ha ve been bor- ro wed. changed and used as va ri ants for bribery.
So tlte prese nt can mean extra money for some hones t or di shonest legal service, consisting of
·Cll' ( objects or co nsu mer goods du e to lack of
l'oreig 11
Tra di tionaHy it is a prese nt offered to god- parellts on ce rtain occasions.
Lawyers and judges used to take: framed go- belins, red crystal bowls (imitatin g the Bohemia ones), chin a fruit di shes, imitations of Hosenthal stv le. sil ver and crystal and bro nze and crystaJ l'ru it d large 11rn c: ra
me
.,.doi I ies", tabl ecJ oth s 1·1nbro idnc·d bv hand, oil pa ill tings showin g edi- ble still lilc:;, !lowers and land scapes, sensuouswomen, big trinkets (th e bigge r and more natu- ralisti c, th e more precious), sometim es genuin e second-hand art objects an d books.
Most presents were placed on th e desk in the house.
Oth er presents taken were: Kent cigarettes boxes, foreign coffee bags, whi sky, " wrapped"
eau-de-Cologne and deodorants, home electronic equipment, fo reign most of the time, any kind of Western goo ds.
The ha bit bas bee n pr ese rved, bu t today lawyers ta ke icons mainly.
I gave presents on all sid es owin g to some overseas relatives' generosity to wh om I owed my successful di vo rce action or aU contacts with public admini stra ti on at th at tim e.
As comp ensati on, 1 told my children th at th e prese nt is given to godp arents on Chri stm as Dav and Shrove Tuesda y. Therefo re, they gave th e godp arents towels, knot-shap ed bread and one year a living goose. ( 12 5)
To get a licence, a house, a ri se in salary or anything else more easily, one bad to treat those who helped yo u at a pub or to give th em ra re goo ds such as coff ee, ciga rettes or refin ed drin ks. Fo reign wrapped coffee existed at that tim e . Ken t , Ma rlb or o, P all Ma JL LM, BT ciga rettes were difficult to be fo und at that tim e and were brought from shops, luxurious pu blic places fo r th ose wh o worked abroa d. Militi a took prese nts moderat ely. Th ey too k foo d: meat, ciga rettes, butter, salami. (M . A. , 155)
On ce a tra ffi c ward en suspended my dri ving license and so mebody told me wh at to give him to have it back. Th e present included many bot- tl es of wine, a Kent ciga rette box and a coffee bag. (C.V., 129)
Apart from money, any unu sual goods co uld be used to reward different services: coffee, fo r- eign cigarettes (a t least BT fr om our Bulga rian neighbors), stockings, paper cases, special pens, boo ks, glas ses, anything. Usuall y th ese obj ects were pro vided by influ e ntial persons and ac- quaintances or du e to your job. (E. l.A., 16)
BUCHAREST l.D.
The probl em wa s se riou s here. The rul e wa s that Cea usrsc u alon e could confirm the gra ntin g of a Bu charest ID to so meo ne who came from th e provi11 re. The co nditi on was that he or she sl1 ould be e1nployed, oth erwi se it was out of the qu estion. Or else by way of marriage. My pro- bl e m wa s that , s in ce I liv ed ju s t o ut s id e Bu chares t, I didn 't have a Bucharest I.D.: th e id ea was that if yo u Jived in the vicinity of th e city yo u co uld commute. Bu charest wa s a dosed city: yo u broke in eith er by distribution (whi ch yo u could only get if yo u were well connected) or if yo u were a Securitate agent. The criterion wa s obviously political in nature: you had to be a party member, to be born into a family of peas- ants or workm en (whi ch meant you were not re- gistered in a political fil e, whi ch n1igbt menti on so me relative se rvin g tim e at th e ca nal or iu or to be soli cited by an institution (thi s wa s th e case witl1 the Sec uritate Office, whicl1 Cea usesc u always wanted to expand) . Most peo- pl e chose to marry for positions. I , for instance, ii' I w<i nted t.o rem<i in in Bucharest, I could lrnve pi cked one of u1 y colleagu es who had Bucharest res id ence. remain preg n<int.. and th en he'd have t.o marry me, si nee in sociali st term s th e notion of a fath erl ess child was sheer nonsense; and thu s l co uld have obta in ed my Bu chares t I.D . 1\fanv ruin ed th eir lives in thi s way, because mar- ria ges became unnatural , cases of mismatching.
Yet, th e rule was that in order for a marriage of thi s so rt to be validated, the coupl e had to li ve toge th er for at lea st S yea rs. I once had a col- league who married a wornan who lived outside Bu cl1 <l res t.. and th e refor e did not hav e a 13uc harcs t l.D. , and they decid ed to go li ve to-
in th e wif e ' s hou se, ju st outside Bu cli aresl. Mc<rnwhile, the of Bu ch;1rest w<is initiated <ind they both found ou t one day tltat non e of th em 11ad a Bucharest l.D.
an y more. This thing with the l.D. was a mess:
vou co uldn ' t move to Buchares t if you didn ' t ha ve a place to work , hut yo u co uldn 't get work
B
in Bucharest if yo u didn't have a Bucharest l.D . You also needed a Buchares t add ress . bv all means. And only few co mpani es rece ived vo u (th e Comm on Transportation Company. or th e rubb e r work s in th e south e rn ol Bucharest) (0. S. , 169)
Moving to Bucharest was a whole adventure.
[f yo ur connections did the job for yo u, ve ry we.11. If not, yo u were forced to enter a network of partial soluti ons, compromi se and dcLJ)"
whi ch cost a lot of money, beca use vo u dcpe11d- ed up on th e di strict office r, th e exec utives at th l' Fiscal Offi ce. and other such fea rful insta11 cec'. II yo u bad th e mi sfortun e to se ttle temp oraril y within an area of 30 km away from Bucharest.
that was it, you never made yo ur way into the capital. The people who li ved just outside Bu charest did not stand a chan ce, th e reg ul n- tion s said it ex plicitly. Only 111arringc did it. A hou se wa s hard to get too , not eve n th e track uttion co uld help yo u. (11 4)
On ce l tri ed to arrange for a girl fr om tli c provin ce, Ca rm en wa s her name, to ge t marri ed witb a guy who lived in Bu chares t. Th e girl wa s stunning, great looks aud all. The guy w<lnted l 0,000 lei, th e said yes, but he as kf' d !or something more: one night togeth er as 1J1 <111 a11d wife. The girl ran away, it wa s out ol tb e tion. That's bow a Bu charest I.D. id yll ca 1u e to an end. (I. H., 48)
T remember one time wh en l went out to bu y chicken. If I prese nted my work card, I co uld have, besides th e chicken, som e cheese, butter and some oth er things. Wh en T reached the co unter, th e shop assistant told me she co uld11·t give me th e cheese and butter becau se I clicln ·t have a Bu charest l.D . and that th e ca rd was not e11ough. I started to shout at her. M)' coll eague,;
who were standing in qu eue with 111 e bcga 11 rai s- ing hell and told th e shop assistant to give rn e what 1 wanted. But she wouldn 't. I happ ened to have a p11ir of tongs in my hand , so I threatened her with the tongs and told her tlrnt if she would- n't give me th e cheese and butter, 1·c1 pull out b e r nose wit h my t o ngs. What with t he
and threatening, she finalJy gave me th e cheese and the butte r, togeth er with th e chi cken. (I. C. M. , 172).
BULB
[rn11 0111i Ps were in ord er, not of ou r own 11101H')" hut of' nati onal electri c power. So that no la 111p was eve r li t, and after ten in th e ('Vcnin g t!t e windows of the shops and res ta u- rants went dnrk. ln th e staircases of th e blocks there wr re bulbs onl y on everv oth er fl oo r, and th r ir homes peo pl e li ved in half' dark , sim- pl y hccamf' thr rP wa s nothing else on sa le but
of' max imum 40\V. lt was heU, we rea d at la111p li ght - th ere were those bed lamps with metal sc ree n and th e bulb in tlte shape of a ca n- dle. (125)
Perm anent conce rn of the State. Th e advice wa s to usr 011l v 40W bulbs in th e room s. On e lll'0]°CCl wa» to put friJ oes out of order durin o . r. c
wi i\ l'a i r proposal, sin ce th e temp erature
11;1s so low th e food co uld not possibl y get altr 1n l. (.S I)
were a real ca pital in th e '80s. We all
chased th em, es peciaUy tho se that exceeded th e regular 4.0\V. Th e bulb on the halJ of th e block wa s alwa ys being stolen. Some people used to protect it with a wire scree n and put a s111 all lock on it. Oth ers just replaced th e bulbs one afle1·
th e oth er, wh enever th ey had any. (90)
BUTTEH
You co uld only wangle yo ur butter: my u1 0111 did . J mu st ad mit, she kn ew so 111 eo 11 e al th e sto re ... But co mm on peop le'! You stoo d in a qu eue, waited to see if anyth i11g was bro ught i11 . All retired peo pl e were waiting sitting 011 th eir fi shing stoo ls, in front of food stores. " Butter is coming toda y!" "Come along, neighb our, but- ter's coming!" They were ju st sitting there, in th e event tha t something might "co me". They did not need so mething in particul ar. th ey were just wailing fo r anything, that was th eir fun. The waite rs, cooks, butchers, th ese we re th e big shot . Th ey cou ld gel anythin g. And th e food shop assistants, too, th ey also cou ld Jay hand s on cheese or milk. (114·)
