2021

digital print, tube, metal rope

Two sources reveal different viewpoints to the story of a man. They construct a Mobius strip, which is the simplest non-orientable surface. Thus, obtained the topological object combines two contradicting entities where one compliments the other and vice versa.

This is a very familiar story. A story where a certain “boy of ours” participates by necessity. He is called *** from the village of *** in Bulgaria. He started his career as an agronomist at the local cooperative farm (the TKZS, a totalitarian period term). Due to overzealousness or out of curiosity, I don’t know, but he concocted a solution for spraying vines and so he managed to ruin entire massifs in no time at all. To this day, eyewitnesses argue about how many kilometers down the river the fish was trying “to learn” swimming belly up, while the envious ones would claim that the recipe for the above-mentioned concoction was requested by the US Deforestation Command for use in Vietnam, but *** did not give it to them.

This research on vineyards, however, did affect his career as an agronomist. People in-the-know from the Personnel Department of the local office of the Interior Ministry in *** arranged so that the boy went for a more suitable job at the district office of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in ***. Well, it is true that at that time the boy had outgrown the age limit for such work in the said ministry and also that the person in charge of HR did not find the necessary qualities in him to make him suitable for the job. However, a call “from high up” settled all these minor problems and as of May 1975 he started working in the ministry’s office in the city of * **. When the man finally found himself on the right ground, his qualities flourished and he went all the way up to become the deputy head of the said local office.

In the meantime, he did not forget his personal affairs, of course, and so he joined a JSC (the local kind of totalitarian period condominium, apartment building). During the construction of the cooperative building some minor troubles occurred. The Military Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation accusing him of presenting a false invoice for the purchase of timber and iron at the time of opening of the construction financing in order to claim larger investment but actually to cover contributing a lot less money. The invoice was worth two thousand levs, a huge sum at the time, which he was supposed to provide in materials. But the material was not in evidence during the investigation, so he duly paid the money very expeditiously /the two thousand leva/ and with that the problem was solved.

At that time, he had an accident – his uncle from HR in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in *** was asked to retire early due to some “reasons”. And since one of the uncle’s duties was to periodically give good marks to the boy’s work, he now found himself in an awkward position. Unable to keep his cool, he shot a deer and just when the hunting season was still off at that. What followed was a ‘severe’ demotion. However, he met the troubles stoically and when criticized he kept silent like a communist guerrilla during interrogation. Fortunately, at that time the party secretary of the municipal BCP (Bulgarian Communist Party) branch had not yet lifted his protection. He waived a finger at the boy because he was such a naughty boy and let him be.

Although greatly demoted in the service, Comrade *** continued doing things as many times before – fixing his personal affairs from the position of his official authority. The people who suffered from it imagined that they would find justice and complained accordingly. Complaints were checked along the lines of the saying “God is high up, King is far away.” The applicants – Engineers ***, ***, *** most likely wondered why Eng. *** met in *** with the “investigator” sent after his complaint by the local PD in ***. As it turned out for some reason the investigator *** did not check the most important part of ***’s complaint, although written in capital letters so as not to escape anyone’s attention. Due to old age, impaired vision, or who knows why, the investigator missed to see just that part. That’s why *** and many other people are wondering why ***, though retired is still in active service. To be clear, all this happened before November 10, 1989. Then, sensing democracy in action, Mr. *** did not stay away from the general advance of market economy. And since many things are needed for conducting private activity, e.g., spare parts for a truck, on one nice day at the end of last year, pretending to be a police officer to the guard of the “Concrete Depot”, our man quickly appropriated the differential, the gearbox and a bunch of other parts from the Gazka truck, stored there. For this ‘operation’ the driver of the truck *** and the guard have sent a written signal right then and there to the Regional Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

On the occasion of another very recent complaint against Mr. *** to the Ministry of Interior Affairs in ***, this time made by Sergeant ***, who caught a nephew of *** to steal sheet metal and imagine you, he did not close his eyes to the theft of gasoline, so now a representative of the Ministry of Interior Affairs is conducting an inspection regarding the operation “Truck” so successfully conducted by Mr. ***. Waiting for the conclusion… Will *** be still kept in service to “uphold” the reputation of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in ***?

Meanwhile, life goes on. At the moment when the representative of the Ministry of the Interior Affairs was checking the wife of Mr. ***, Mrs. *** /canteen manager/ was selling rice from sacks to the population at very liberal prices. Well, it is true that because of moisture the rice was to some extent moldy, but if we believe the science that there is penicillin in the mold, then that it is a kind of care for humans.

Altogether, a very, very familiar story, and you’ve heard of it, haven’t you?

***** *******

Side B

Healing spring cures eye diseases

A mineral spring, recently restored in the village of *** in ***, cures all kinds of eye diseases. The healing water with a temperature of 36.7 degrees Celsius gushes in the area of ***, just below the monastery ***, which according to legend was built on a lake. Thracians and Romans passed through these lands thousands of years ago, and the ones badly wounded in battle, healed their injuries in the bog.

Not far from the spring rises the former balneology sanatorium, now turned to ruins. The same fate befell the resting house for workers, welcoming the casual traveler with dilapidated rooms and broken windows. It is good that at least the healing spring is still there to restore the glory of the small village ***.

The local resident *** is due the “credit” for the restoration of the spring. He dreamed that the spring with healing water must be found and revived. The initiative involved entrepreneurs from ***, as well as local people who volunteered to dig the closed more than 40 years ago spring at a depth of 2.5 m in the ground. Now a stone slab greets everyone who stops by this place. The spring dug into the ground is covered with a canopy, and above the spout on both sides there are icons – on the left is the icon of the Holy Trinity, and on the right – of the Holy Mother of God. “We put them against theft, because health coins are thrown into it and often homeless gypsy kids retrieve them from the water”, says ***while he is quick to add that the Roma are afraid of God – they believe that if they rob a holy place, their hands will dry up.

About 50 meters up the hill, towards ***, was the shelter of the Haiduk (rebel) ***. Legend has it that he had 20-28 stab wounds and was brought to the spring by his men. They watered his wounds with water from the spring while he healed and went to fight again. In the 1920s, people sat here by the spring and warmed their feet against skin diseases and all sorts of irritations that disappeared after a few “baths”. The black mud around the spring also had healing properties. The spring is closed now with concrete and marble tiles and the water drains through a spout to stop possible infections, as the “revivalist” expertly explains. Once upon a time, various people went there to heal their furuncles and contaminated the water. To revive the spring **   * traveled as an apostle to the businesses in ***. The notary *         **helped him and so he managed to attract many local entrepreneurs to the venture. One of them is the owner of the poultry company ***, and thanks to him and his brother, this other man **       * got a replica of the famous golden treasure.

He brought him to the mud one day, told him how many people had found cure here, and the businessman said, “***, we will do it!” Now he relies on him to pave the ground to the spring, otherwise it is difficult to pass in the mud. We hope that the spring will be officially inaugurated on the feast day of ***, which is at the beginning of summer, says ***. He cannot find words to express his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the renewal of the holy spring under the monastery. To promote the good deed, the grandson of *** uploaded the information about the healing spring in ***.

Miracles

An 85-year-old woman from the village says that when she was little, a strange thing happened – her family’s cow stung her eye and the father wanted to call butchers to slaughter her. However, the mother took pity on the mutilated animal and doused the cow at the spring with the cauldron 40 times a day until she started seeing again.

*** from *** was also cured – a fly entered her eye and she could not take it out. She poured water into a small cup and blinked in it 40 times until the insect melted away. Another one – ***, had a cataract on one of her eyes and also started seeing – thus lists the cases of the healed Grandpa ***.

The healing properties of the spring are also evidenced by an incident with a boy who fell from a motorcycle and received severe wounds. His relatives undressed him, immersed him in the spring and poured water on him for 4 days – on the fifth day the boy went up to change the tiles on the roof of their house.

The community cultural center opened its doors and welcomed residents and guests of the village with a festively arranged table. There were many delicacies from the hosts of the village. Nice wine, and compote from the old Grandpa***, created a pleasant and festive atmosphere.