Kyusyur

Kyusyur

Alexandr Piatkov



Kyusyur is the outcome of a fierce struggle for the Earth's most precious

treasures: water and freedom. The forebears of those who dwell in this

northernmost settlement along the Lena River made a deliberate choice, embracing

an environment of absolute stability and minimal change. These people chose

harmony and natural cycles, allowing only the barest necessity of urban

intrusion.


Not long ago, London hosted the "World of Coffee" exhibition. Spanning three

floors, it showcased every achievement of the coffee industry, right down to

coffee-derived "machine oil". For anyone wishing to "have a cup of coffee and

take a bath," at least one element of their desired pair was fully provided

there.


The residents of Kyusyur possess neither of these markers of a comfortable life.

To understand the reasons behind their stubborn isolation, one must look back

across a vast historical horizon. Having scaled such a breathtaking peak in the

art of survival and possessing unyielding, boundless freedom, descending to a

mundane metropolis would mean losing the Path forged by countless generations of

ancestors. It would mean betraying their heritage for the sake of a questionable

progress, whose ebbs and flows rival the frequency of seasonal floods.


The windows of the houses in this Arctic village have no shutters, even though

the people inside wait half a year for light to shine through them. There are no

shutters on a traditional chum, and there are none on a house. The very concept

of shutters does not exist here; besides, the fierce wind would rip them away no

matter how securely they were fastened.


The open sockets of the windows stare blankly into the tundra, looking out into

the distance, into the cold, the void, and eternity. They offer no protection, no

light, and no warmth to the inhabitants of these thoroughly frozen homes, who

stand ready to humbly accept whatever verdict the harsh northern life may pass

upon them.



Original publication details:
Copyright: Alexandr Piatkov, 2015
Publication Certificate No. 215051001189
Source Text: proza.ru/avtor/alexanderan
Translated into English by AI Assistant (Version: GPT-4o, 2026)