Lusine Balyan

"Your interviews and photographs irritate my children. They complain that they often see me on television. The last time that we were on television, my son came and warned me that if something like that were to happen again, they would no longer come visit. I couldn't bear that. You have to understand - it's our homesickness that keep us going."

Grandfather Hovhannes has lived in this hostel in the Fourth Village for four years now. He agreed to talk to us because this was only a newspaper interview, but declined to give his last name

"I worked my whole life. I never balked at doing any kind of work, because I believe there is no such thing as dishonorable work. I never considered how much I'd been told to do - I always did more. I'm ready to work even now, but my age, that is to say my physical condition, does not allow it. That was why I could no longer support my family when I retired. My pension was only enough to support my family for one day." Conflict arose in Grandfather Hovhannes' family because he made no money to supplement his pension. His family could not bear the burden of his unemployment.

The old man, of course, did not tell us all this, nor did he complain about his current situation. On the contrary, he blames only himself. But the director of the home knows the stories of all of its residents. She told us that Grandfather Hovhannes had a wife and children, but conflict in the family escalated to the point where he decided on his own to move into the home for the elderly. He did not complain, but said that life and the home seemed to be separate concepts for him. His life remained "out there."

"A person is like a flower, that needs to be cared for and nurtured. If the right conditions don't exist, like sunlight and water - that is, if there is no care, it is doomed. A person needs harmony. If a maestro uses his musical instrument as a means to do his work, then the same kinds of means are a necessary condition for life."

Grandfather Hovhannes is an architect by profession. A brief conversation reveals his intelligence, breadth of knowledge, and fine taste, but intelligence and wisdom are not things you need at an old people's home.

"I've tried to learn something from life - to gain something for myself. I've seen everything, and nothing has frightened me. I've taken an interest in science and art. They have kept me alive. Other people spend their free time playing cards or backgammon. I read and feed my curiosity. My knowledge always seems too little to me. Architecture was for me a way to make money, but even there I kept trying to learn something new."

Even today, Grandfather Hovhannes is well informed of events in the country, parliamentary decisions, and international news. He battles boredom by reading, but weak eyesight means that he cannot read for long. And there aren't any new books in the library, so he reads the same books over and over again, and sometimes turns to textbooks in despair. Nevertheless, Grandfather Hovhannes says he is satisfied with conditions in the home, although to be fair, he would be unlikely to say otherwise in the presence of the director.

"I've seen tough times since I was a child. We were schoolchildren when they took my father to the war. I took over as man of the house. We would till and plough to keep the family fed. We would search the furrows for a single root, so that we would not starve to death. But we made it through. Then we suffered trying to set up a house. But we made it through that as well. Now, I'm in an old people's home.

The director of the hostel told us that Grandfather Hovhannes had had nobody to talk to here, and married another resident, Tamar, to overcome his loneliness.

"Good things always arise out of hardship. This old people's home took away my freedom, but provided for a measure of happiness today. It is important to be spiritually content, not just to exist physically. You need to feel loved one beside you all the time. Someone you can talk to, share feelings and thoughts with. In her presence I want to live in spite of myself."

Grandfather Hovhannes explained that it is important to make the right decision at any age, and remembered the words of Omar Khayyam: "What a sweet voice rings out, but for you it is in vain. Enjoy what you have, your sighing is in vain."