Гайнуллиннар нәселе · Родословная семьи Гайнуллиных · from Almetyevsk to Nurzhan

The journey of 1957

The brigade of Gaziz-abi, 1959

In March 1957 the trust in Almetyevsk asked for volunteers for a "new oil region in Central Asia". The pay was double and there was a flat in two years. My grandfather signed up with eleven other men of his brigade. My grandmother came in the autumn with my uncle Ravil, who was eight, in a goods train with their furniture and a sack of flour.

The first winter they lived in a wagon at the station. My grandmother told that the wind in Kobozev was the same as in Tatarstan, but it smelled of oil and wormwood. In 1959 they got the flat on Neftyanikov street, where my father still lives.

Grandfather wanted to go home every year until 1970. Then he stopped speaking about it. He is buried in Nurzhan, and grandmother next to him.

Uncle Ildar

Ildar, the youngest, served in the army from 1983 and did not come back. We know only that he is buried far away. My grandmother kept his last letter in the Koran on the shelf. I will write about him when I am ready.

Our Sabantuy

Every June the Tatars of Nurzhan make Sabantuy at the NurGaz recreation park: the pole, the sack fights, the eggs in a spoon. In 2008 my cousin Alsu, who has the karaoke bar «Skazka», gave the prize for the pole: a bottle and a free booth. Nobody climbed it.