The heat is on...

It’s been quite hot here in Martuni. Last Saturday we had some unexpected rain which helped cool things and settle the dust. I’m hoping for more rain, but it really does not look like there will be any in the near future.

BBQ season for me is coming to an end as I’m sick of pork and know that consuming the quantities I’ve been putting away can’t be healthy at all. For this reason as of this coming Saturday, I’ll give up pork all together and stick to chicken and fish.

So why should I wait until Saturday to give it up? Well on Friday I will become the Godfather to Lavrent’s son Arsen. The baptism will take place in Shushi and following will be a feast of BBQ pork. For those of you who don’t know who Lavrent is, he is one of my Godchildren who was baptized 2 years ago and is a war veteran who had 30 encounters with landmines.

For the last year I’ve been documenting my father-in-law’s life. Yesterday I video interviewed his mother and today after much convincing his mother-in-law agreed to a video interview.

My father-in-law, Saribek had a very interesting life that was cut short on June 12, 1993 in Mersulu, Azerbaijan after an operation to connect Askern and the Martuni region. The operation didn’t go well and in the end Saribek, along with Monte Melkonian lost their lives.

I plan to prepare a documentary about him, which with the materials I have paints a very colorful life of a man who seemed to have no fears and was ready to and did give his life for what he believed in. He was a singer who traveled all over the former Soviet Union to perform at weddings, a human-rights activist and a freedom-fighter.

The music for the documentary I plan on using a recording of nationalist songs sung by Saribek himself.

I’m hoping to have the documentary ready before our first child is born so when it is old enough and want to know about his/her family history it will have the documentary to learn about who it’s grandfather was, told by those who knew him.

Anyway, I have to get going. My wife went to her mother’s house where they are preparing lunch. From there I will go to my grandmother-in-law’s house to interview her for the documentary.