August 20, 2017

The Orphan


The Orphan
Maria Konyayeva explains a photo to the author. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

It is hot in Kolomna even at 8 in the morning as Misha and I set out for breakfast and a stroll to see the city’s well-restored kremlin before the day’s activities begin. At the gates to the complex a rotund fellow in the nineteenth century policeman’s outfit gives us the once over, surely wondering if we are going to ask to have our picture taken with him as thousands of tourists must. We do not.

“Isn’t that uniform a bit warm?” I ask instead.

“Not yet, but it will be soon enough,” he replies, the anticipation of sweat and fatigue leaking out of his voice.

We stroll down to the river, Misha has his run-in with the church matron, and then we pick up some famous Kolomna pastilles for our host. The town once had a famous pastille-making factory (as chronicled in Russian Life magazine back in 2011), and the art is being resurrected, so we avail ourselves of the chance to get a taste of history before walking back to our hotel.

* * *

Were it possible to estimate the number of orphans created in Russia by the three decades of war, famine, and revolution that occurred between 1914 and 1945, it would surely present a devastating and depressing figure. Especially since few would have had much chance of survival on their own, and would not likely have lived far beyond the life expectancy in Russia at that time of around 35.

Maria Konyayeva is surely an outlier, as she has lived to be 100, despite being orphaned at 13 when her mother died; her father had died eight years before.

Maria was taking care of her mother at the time and one morning her mother, lying in bed, said, “There is no need to make kasha today.” She died that day.

With piercing blue eyes, a warm disposition, and a playful sense of humor, Maria is a sincere soul who needs to be looking into the eyes of her interlocutor when she is recounting a story. She is making a connection; break her gaze and her story trails off.

Maria in happier times, fifth from left in the front row. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

The centenarian has scarcely left Kolomna, a town about 100km southeast of Moscow, her entire life, and was not even evacuated during the war, when the Germans loomed over the capital in 1941. She began her working life as a domestic, then worked for five years in the local bread factory. During the war her full time job became raising the family’s two children.

We ask how she met her husband, and she laughs, her face overcome by a beautiful smile. After a long pause, she says there were dances, and she went to one with a girlfriend.

He asked, “Can I walk you home?”

“As you like.” She said. “Let’s go. I’m not going to put you in my pocket in any case… We went together for three months… very properly, very correctly. He was a very good husband to me, and all my friends liked him. First of all, he did not drink, he was not a drunk. Of course, we had a little drink on holidays… He never swore at me and I lived with him for 54 years. We celebrated our golden anniversary.  He was a very good husband… We never raised our voices or swore at one another.”

“Did you fall in love with him right away?” we ask.

“Well, what do you mean? It was fine. I liked him. He looked after himself, was clean.” Then, after a long pause: “He did not paw at me.” [Он мне руками не хапал.]

Maria Konyayeva and her husband at VDNKh in Moscow. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}
Maria Konyayeva and her daughter, Galina. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

Despite having just four years of education, or perhaps because of that, Maria raised a family that valued learning and self-improvement. Her daughter Galina, now retired, became a teacher of physics.

The amazing geological collection of Maria's son in law. {Photo: Mikhail Mordasov}

Maria is justifiably proud of what she calls her “clan.” And it would not be surprising to find that someone orphaned as a teen put special pleasure in having built a strong family.

“My entire clan has higher education,” she says, listing off their various degrees and achievements. Then she remembers with fondness how many of them gathered for her birthday in March.

“My eldest grandson, he brought me 51 roses,” she says, her face lighting up as she chuckles at the memory.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955